Energetics of Biological Systems

Project Information

EnBioSys

Grant agreement ID: 949811

DOI

10.3030/949811

EC signature date 16 December 2020

Start date 1 April 2021

End date 31 March 2027

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 935 240,00

EU contribution

€ 1 935 240,00

Coordinated by

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EnBioSys (Energetics of Biological Systems)

Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2025-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

All life depends on energy expenditure and requires a continuous supply of energy and matter in the form of nutrients to function within the second law of thermodynamics. To understand the fundamental principles of how cells and organisms function, we need to determine how nutritional energy is transformed by cellular metabolism and partitioned among the complex array of cellular processes life uses to stay alive, grow, and proliferate. To achieve these ambitious aims, this proposal aims to address three overall objectives:

1: Develop approaches and methodologies to quantify the overall energetics of biological systems
2: Elucidate the role of energy expenditure on the accuracy and reproducibility of cellular signaling
3: Determine how energetics drive embryonic development and cell growth

This work will overcome the current lack of non-invasive techniques to quantitatively measure the physical quantities of metabolism, especially rates of energy conversion and expenditure in biological systems. The results will yield quantitative thermodynamic data needed to fundamentally understand biological systems and will be essential for kinetic growth studies of normal and diseased systems.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

To date, there are a couple of truly novel aspects to this project that have clear potential to constitute a significant breakthrough. One of the main results achieved from the project to date is the collaborative development of a minimal thermodynamic model and experimental approaches in our laboratory to infer the thermodynamic and energetic properties of living biological systems, such as cells and developing embryos. Using this model to analyze growth data from the last eight decades for unicellular species reveals conserved features of unicellular energy use and storage across the domains of life. A second significant result establishes a new paradigm for the intracellular organization of metabolism and energy transformation, which is essential for the progression of early embryonic development.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In the project, we implemented the theoretical and experimental foundations of the energetics of biological systems. We have begun using this framework, together with experimental approaches, to develop methodologies for measuring and understanding the flows of energy and matter in biological systems. In collaboration with theorists, we have completed the theoretical and experimental aspects of Objective 1 and found two thermodynamic rules that constrain the metabolic versatility of growing unicellular systems. These results obtained for unicellular growth data are unexpected and indeed go beyond the state of the art. We believe that applying our approach to mammalian cell growth and vertebrate embryonic development will open fundamentally new views of cells and organisms’ functions in accordance with the laws of thermodynamics.

InputOutputThermodynamics