Introduction
LiSyM (Liver Systems Medicine) represents a research network of German centers and institutions, brought together by a 20 Million Euro funding program of the German Government, in which mathematicians, modelers, pharmacologists, molecular biologists and clinical scientists work together to develop a Systems Medicine approach to study early and advanced liver disease.
The aim of this unique research program is to acquire and use new experimental data and data from existing data bases to build computational models that facilitate decision making at the patient's bedside and to predict the actions of new medicines in the treatment of metabolic liver disease.
Research with liver tissue has a long tradition and has been the basis of the discipline of biochemistry. Over the years this research has yielded a wealth of stored quantifiable data. In Systems Medicine these data are re-used to integrate with new data as to develop multi-scale computational models that help in understanding the complexity of metabolism and its derangement in human diseases. This should lead to a more personalised type of medicine, earlier diagnosis and new therapies (Peter Jansen)
The Network
In LiSyM multidisciplinary and geographically dispersed groups are integrated into thema-oriented workgroups. We like to see LiSyM as a network in which these research groups work together, not as a consortium of independent entities, but as co-ordinated, geographically distributed teams. This requires frequent meetings and retreats were research-in-progress is discussed in an open and creative atmosphere.
Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Institute for Biochemistry
- Prof. Dr. Georg-Hermann Holzhütter
- Institut for Radiology
- Prof. Dr. Ingolf Sack
- Department of General, Visceral and Thoracic Surgery
- PD Dr. Martin Stockmann
- Institute of Experimental Endocrinology
- PD Dr. Susanna Wiegand
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
- Institute for Theoretical Biology (ITB)
- Prof. Dr. Edda Klipp
- Institute for Theoretical Biology (ITB)
- Dr. Matthias König
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPI-MG)
- Dr. David Michael Meierhofer
University Hospital Kiel
- Department of Visceral and Thoracic Surgery
- Prof. Dr. Clemens Schafmayer
Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS
- Prof. Dr. Tobias Preusser
- Dr. Andrea Schenk
University Medicine Greifswald
- Institute of Bioinformatics
- Prof. Dr. Lars Kaderali
IfADo – Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors
- Department of Toxicology / Systems Toxicology
- Prof. Dr. Jan G. Hengstler
- Dr. Nachiket Vartak
- Department of Toxicology / Systems Toxicology
- Dr. Ahmed Ghallab
- Department of Toxicology / Systems Toxicology
- Department of Toxicology / Systems Toxicology
- PD Dr. Dirk Drasdo
Heinrich Heine University
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases
- Prof. Dr. Johannes G. Bode
Bayer Technology Services GmbH
- Dr. Lars Küpfer
RWTH Aachen University Hospital
- ExMI - Experimental Molecular Imaging
- Prof. Dr. Fabian Kiessling
- Joint Research Center for Computational Biomedicine
- Prof. Dr. Julio Saez-Rodriguez
- Joint Research Center for Computational Biomedicine
- Prof. Dr. Andreas Schuppert
- Department of Internal Medicine III
- Prof. Dr. Christian Trautwein
Saarland University Hospital
- Department of Medicine II
- Prof. Dr. Frank Lammert
- Department of General-, Visceral-, Vascular- and Pediatric Surgery
- Prof. Dr. Matthias Glanemann
University of Leipzig
- Institute of Biochemistry (Faculty of Medicine)
- Dr. Madlen Matz-Soja
- Institute for Computer Science (Bioinformatics)
- Dr. Stefan Höhme
- Interdisciplinary Centre for Bioinformatics
- PD Dr. Dirk Drasdo
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG)
- Prof. Dr. Marino Zerial
- Dr. Andrej Shevchenko
Technical University Dresden
- Center of Information Services and High Performance Computing (ZIH)
- Dr. Lutz Brusch
University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus
- Medical Department 1
- Prof. Dr. Jochen Hampe
Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University
- Section „Molecular Hepatology – Alcohol Associated Diseases“ Dept. of Medicine II
- Prof. Dr. Steven Dooley
Heidelberg University Hospital
- Hamamatsu Tissue Imaging & Analysis Center
- PD Dr. Niels Grabe
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology
- Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Kauzcor
- Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery
- Prof. Dr. Katrin Hoffmann
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
- Systems Biology of Signal Transduction (B200)
- Prof. Dr. Ursula Klingmüller
HITS gGmbH
- PD Dr. Wolfgang Müller
Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch-Institute of Clinical Pharmacology
- Prof. Dr. Matthias Schwab
Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
- Physics Institut
- Prof. Dr. Jens Timmer
Helmholtz Zentrum Munich - German Research Center for Health and the Environment
- Institute of Computational Biology
- Prof. Dr. Dr. Fabian Theis
Technical University Munich Klinikum rechts der Isar
- Institute of Molecular Immunology/Experimental Oncology
- Prof. Dr. Percy A. Knolle
Scientific Pillars
Scientifically LiSyM is based on four discrete, but related Pillars, each focusing on a particular phase of disease, described by specific clinical phenomena, underpinned by experimental and theoretical studies. Taken as a whole, and looking horizontally across the Pillars, the entire package takes an integrated approach to the study of mechanisms of disease progression, from early injury to organ failure, tackling key elements of the phases of transition between each, whilst the vertical integration within each Pillar integrates studies across scales. This programme structure creates a “line of sight” from the molecular level through interactions at the cellular level, via the function of the entire organ to human beings in interaction with the environment wherein they live. To capture this in a research model, and gain a more complete understanding of these processes and interactions, a series of iterative cycles is needed at the centre of which lies computational modelling and simulation. These latter are key elements of a Systems Medicine approach.