Pan-European systems biology programme launched
Understanding key microorganisms with the aid of data-based mathematical modelling is the goal of the newly announced EUR 27 million pan-European programme. The SysMO programme, which is part of the European Research Area Network on Systems Biology (ERASysBio), will fund a total of 11 multi-national projects over the next three years, studying some of the smallest life forms known to man. Funding for the projects is being provided by Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Norway. SysMO will take a 'systems biology' approach to all of its projects. This involves going beyond analysing individual components or aspects of the organism, such as sugar metabolism or a cell nucleus, and focusing on all the components and interactions among them, all as part of one system. To do this, biologists make use of computer modelling and simulations, in place of the more traditional methods of observation and experiment. Professor Julia Goodfellow, Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), which manages the programme in the UK, said that adopting approaches, which enable us to see the whole system, is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge internationally in the biosciences. In addition, 'Using such systems approaches to study microorganisms, as announced today, will lead to both a leap forward in our understanding and also offer us real opportunities for developing applications useful for industry, consumers and patients,' the professor added. She hopes that these multi-national projects will form the basis for future pan-European systems biology research. The 11 projects to be funded cover a wide range of topics: - the transition from growing to non-growing Bacillus subtilis cells; - clostridium acetobutylicum - a potential biofuel and a possible answer to dwindling crude oil reserves; - microbial oxygen responses; - ion and solute homeostasis in enteric bacteria; - lactic acid bacteria; - biotech induced stresses: towards a quantum increase in process performance in the cell factory Pseudomonas putida; - genetically engineered Pseudomonas fluorescens with inducible exo-polysaccharide production: analysis of the dynamics and robustness of metabolic networks; - energy and Saccharomyces cerevisiae - gene interaction networks and models of cation homeostasis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae; - global metabolic switching in Streptomyces coelicolor; - silicon cell model for the central carbohydrate metabolism of the archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus under temperature variation.
Countries
Austria, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom