FUTURESYSBIO

Tackling the future challenges in Systems Biology

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The emerging field of Systems Biology is anticipated to have a major impact on the biosciences, moving biology from a phenomenological to a predictive science. Such predictive ability should allow to accurately foresee the outcome of therapeutic interventions with individual patients or to optimise industrial bioprocesses more precisely than has been possible before. Therefore, the results of Systems Biology are expected to have major impact on treatment and diagnosing diseases, health care and the bio-industries. Developing the research field and ensuring exploitation of its results therefore is of major social and economic interest for the European Union. The overall objective of FutureSysBio is to spur and structure the discussion on the development of Systems Biology and thereby provide guidance to stakeholders and scientists. Specifically, the objectives of this project are: (1) To gather and update the research community on latest developments in Systems Biology. (2) To inform and guide funding organisations. (3) To inform and guide pharmaceutical and bio-industries in Europe on developments and opportunities in Systems Biology and thereby enable well-informed corporate decisions. (4) To inform and guide higher education and education funders of challenges and opportunities in interdisciplinary education and training. (5) To inform the media, policy makers and the general public of opportunities, challenges and facts in Systems Biology. To achieve these goals the consortium will organise the following highly visible events: (1) The International Conference on Systems Biology ICSB2008 in Gothenburg. (2) The International Conference on Systems Biology ICSB2010 in Edinburgh or Barcelona. (3) Six high-level expert workshops. (4) Two high-level topical conferences. Different types of dissemination activities tailored for the target audiences will ensure the significant impact that FutureBioSys plans to make on the future development of Systems Biology.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Researchers have brought the development of the new systems approach to biology to the attention of a wider public in the EU. This rapidly developing competence is leading towards more personalised medicine.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Systems biology aims to create mathematical models or use a computer to construct biological systems and processes. This emerging field, which applies to biomedical and biological scientific research, is likely to have a major impact on the biosciences in the near future.

The ability to predict the behaviour of biological systems should allow us to accurately foresee the outcome of medical treatments for individual patients. Therefore, it is of major socioeconomic interest for the EU to develop this research field.

'Tackling the future challenges in systems biology' (Futuresysbio) is an EU-funded project that aims to predict and shape the future development of the systems biology field. By encouraging and structuring debate on the field's development, the project will be able to provide guidance to stakeholders and scientists alike. To achieve its goals, the project team has organised major international conferences, expert workshops and meetings on various topics concerning systems biology.

These scientific events have been used to inform funding organisations, both nationally and internationally, of the future directions of systems biology. Likewise, they have also presented potential funding opportunities and priorities. In addition, pharmaceutical and bio-industries as well as higher education and training institutions in Europe have been brought up to date with the latest developments.

These and other events organised within the Futuresysbio project have promoted the systems biology approach and facilitated communication among different stakeholders. The project has also succeeded in putting systems biology on the political agenda, at least at a regional level. In future, these aspects are expected to impact the interaction between research, industry and political decision-makers, to the benefit of the EU's health sector.