Back to search

INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

Metabolic and signaling crosstalk of vitamin-derived cofactors - a training platform for systems medicine

Alternative title: Metabolisme og signalisering mellom vitamin-avledede kofaktorer - en læringsplattform for systemmedisin

Awarded: NOK 4.5 mill.

Systems medicine has emerged as essential discipline to identify disease mechanisms and biomarkers, follow and predict the effect of treatments and to develop new, combinatorial therapies. We wish to develop and implement a dedicated study program in systems medicine in Norway. This project will bring together a team of leading experts from five renowned academic institutions [in Norway (2), the United States (1) and Russia (2)]. They will develop a unique portfolio of systems medicine training ? from molecular mechanisms to disease treatment. The courses will include experimental and computational analyses of metabolic pathways and signaling networks, chemical biology of cancer, advanced analytical techniques, mathematical modelling and machine learning as well as principles of drug development. Based on well-established scientific collaborations with all partners, UiB will coordinate the project. Practical courses will be conducted in the relevant partner institutions. In this project period we, were challenged by events that made it necessary to adjust the composition of the consortium and the schedule of our activities. On the one hand, in the end of 2021/beginning of 2022, there were still restrictions in place due to the pandemic. On the other hand, the war in Ukraine made it impossible to continue the collaboration with the partners from Russia. Therefore, with the support of the Research Council of Norway, we initiated a new collaboration with a leading systems medicine environment at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG, NL). Together with UMCG, the other three partners (UiB, UiT, Univ. of Southern Alabama) developed and implemented a new plan for the courses, exchanges, meetings and workshop activities. This plan is now enacted, and we have conducted a number of activities since mid-2022 (with active participation of at least two partners and participation of PhD and master students from all partner institutions): - VitaCross Workshop: Evolutionary aspects of sequence analysis (12-14 June 2022, Tromsø) - The FASEB NAD metabolism and signaling conference (26 June – 1 July 2022, Steamboat, AZ) - International Study Goup for Systems Biology Conference (19-23 September 2022, Innsbruck) - VitaCross Workshop: Interdisciplinary communication in Systems Biology (16-19 February 2023, Tromsø) - VitaCross Symposium: Research training in vitamin biology (6-7 January 2023, University of South Alabama, Mitchell Cancer Center, Mobile, AL) - streamed and with contributions from partners and guests, in part, online - PhD/Master Course: Modelling in Systems Biology I -Metabolic pathway modelling (20-24 February 2023, Tromsø) Overall, our efforts to adapt our consortium and activities to the new situation have been successful. The newly constituted consortium is now well established and has designed an updated schedule for systematic training courses in systems medicine, workshops and symposia for 2024-2026.

Systems medicine has emerged as essential discipline to identify disease mechanisms and biomarkers, follow and predict the effect of treatments and to develop new, combinatorial therapies. To our knowledge, dedicated study programs in systems medicine do net yet exist in Norway. This project will bring together a team of leading experts from four renowned academic institutions [in Norway (2), the United States (1) and the Netherlands (1)]. They will develop a unique portfolio of systems medicine training – from molecular mechanisms to disease treatment. The courses will include experimental and computational analyses of metabolic pathways and signaling networks, chemical biology of cancer, advanced analytical techniques, mathematical modelling and machine learning as well as principles of drug development. Based on well-established scientific collaborations with all partners, UiB will coordinate the project. Practical courses will be conducted in the relevant partner institutions. The EU consortium on systems medicine of breast cancer (MESI-STRAT) and the NeuroSysMed center (FKB, Bergen) will support this initiative with their competences. This INTPART project will also significantly contribute to the scientific excellence of existing joint research projects among all parners. A major focus will be on the biology and medical significance of coenzymes derived from vitamin B precursors, a hot area of current biomedical research both in metabolomics, signaling and for the development of nutritional therapeutic concepts. Collectively, the project will enable tight collaborations with outstanding academic environments in systems medicine, beyond existing EU initiatives, to develop world-class training in systems medicine. Moreover, it will provide the opportunity for outstanding research that no partner institution on its own would be able to conduct. Thereby, the new generation of scientists in biomedical research will be adequately prepared for the challenges ahead.

Funding scheme:

INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research