Subarea 5: Computational and Systems Biology of Aging

Subarea 5 focuses on the development of methods to analyse and understand complex biological systems. This work includes the design of computer algorithms and biostatistical approaches as well as the development of novel Omic strategies (i.e. genomics/epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) to study aging and aging-related diseases. According to the FLI, due to the Subarea's expertise in computational data analysis, it is deeply interconnected with all other Subareas. The Subarea hosts two critical core facilities (Life Science Computing, Proteomics) and provides consulting services in statistics. Furthermore, it organizes courses on data analysis and statistics.

The research is defined by five focus areas:

  • Mapping extrinsic and intrinsic factors influencing stem cells during aging,
  • Integration of spatiotemporal proteomics and transcriptomics data,
  • Comprehensive evaluation of qualitative and quantitative expression changes,
  • Identification and analysis of epigenomic alterations during aging and age-related diseases, and
  • Network analysis of genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic alterations during aging.

Research focus of Subarea 5.

The biology of aging can be viewed as a multilayered array of networks at the level of organs, cells, molecules, and genes. The FLI wants to meet this complexity by establishing the new Subarea on “Computational and Systems Biology of Aging”. The overall goal is to interconnect research at different scales, taking place in Subareas 1-4 of the Institute’s research program. The new group on Systems Biology will integrate data from networks at multiple scales and will thus point to mechanisms and interactions that would not be seen in unilayer approaches.

Publications

(since 2016)

2017

  • Telomerase abrogates aneuploidy-induced telomere replication stress, senescence and cell depletion.
    Meena JK, Cerutti A, Beichler C, Morita Y, Bruhn C, Kumar M, Kraus JM, Speicher MR, Wang ZQ, Kestler HA, Fagagna Fdd, Günes C, Rudolph KL
    EMBO J 2017, 36(19), 2922-4 Erratum for EMBO J 2015 volume 34 page 1371
  • ViSiBooL - visualization and simulation of Boolean networks with temporal constraints.
    Schwab J, Burkovski A, Siegle L, Müssel** C, Kestler** HA
    Bioinformatics 2017, 33(4), 601-4 ** co-senior authors
  • An Expanded Genome-Wide Association Study of Type 2 Diabetes in Europeans.
    Scott RA, Scott LJ, Mägi R, Marullo L, Gaulton KJ, Kaakinen M, Pervjakova N, Pers TH, Johnson AD, Eicher JD, Jackson AU, Ferreira T, Lee Y, Ma C, Steinthorsdottir V, Thorleifsson G, Qi L, Van Zuydam NR, Mahajan A, Chen H, Almgren P, Voight BF, Grallert H, Müller-Nurasyid M, Ried JS, Rayner WN, Robertson N, Karssen LC, van Leeuwen EM, Willems SM, Fuchsberger C, Kwan P, Teslovich TM, Chanda P, Li M, Lu Y, Dina C, Thuillier D, Yengo L, Jiang L, Sparso T, Kestler HA, Chheda H, Eisele L, Gustafsson S, Frånberg M, Strawbridge RJ, Benediktsson R, Hreidarsson AB, Kong A, Sigurðsson G, Kerrison ND, Luan J, Liang L, Meitinger T, Roden M, Thorand B, Esko T, Mihailov E, Fox C, Liu CT, Rybin D, Isomaa B, Lyssenko V, Tuomi T, Couper DJ, Pankow JS, Grarup N, Have CT, Jørgensen ME, Jørgensen T, Linneberg A, Cornelis MC, van Dam RM, Hunter DJ, Kraft P, Sun Q, Edkins S, Owen KR, Perry JR, Wood AR, Zeggini E, Tajes-Fernandes J, Abecasis GR, Bonnycastle LL, Chines PS, Stringham HM, Koistinen HA, Kinnunen L, Sennblad B, Mühleisen TW, Nöthen MM, Pechlivanis S, Baldassarre D, Gertow K, Humphries SE, Tremoli E, Klopp N, Meyer J, Steinbach G, Wennauer R, Eriksson JG, Mӓnnistö S, Peltonen L, Tikkanen E, Charpentier G, Eury E, Lobbens S, Gigante B, Leander K, McLeod O, Bottinger EP, Gottesman O, Ruderfer D, Blüher M, Kovacs P, Tonjes A, Maruthur NM, Scapoli C, Erbel R, Jöckel KH, Moebus S, de Faire U, Hamsten A, Stumvoll M, Deloukas P, Donnelly PJ, Frayling TM, Hattersley AT, Ripatti S, Salomaa V, Pedersen NL, Boehm BO, Bergman RN, Collins FS, Mohlke KL, Tuomilehto J, Hansen T, Pedersen O, Barroso I, Lannfelt L, Ingelsson E, Lind L, Lindgren CM, Cauchi S, Froguel P, Loos RJ, Balkau B, Boeing H, Franks PW, Gurrea AB, Palli D, van der Schouw YT, Altshuler D, Groop LC, Langenberg C, Wareham NJ, Sijbrands E, van Duijn CM, Florez JC, Meigs JB, Boerwinkle E, Gieger C, Strauch K, Metspalu A, Morris AD, Palmer CN, Hu FB, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K, Dupuis J, Morris AP, Boehnke M, McCarthy MI, Prokopenko I, DIAbetes Genetics Replication And Meta-analysis (DIAGRAM) Consortium
    Diabetes 2017, 66(11), 2888-902
  • Wnt activity and basal niche position sensitize intestinal stem and progenitor cells to DNA damage.
    Tao S, Tang D, Morita Y, Sperka T, Omrani O, Lechel A, Sakk V, Kraus J, Kestler HA, Kühl M, Rudolph KL
    EMBO J 2017, 36(19), 2920-1 Erratum for EMBO J 2015 volume 34 page 624

2016

  • Boolean modeling identifies greatwall/MASTL as an important regulator in the AURKA network of neuroblastoma.
    Dahlhaus M, Burkovski A, Hertwig F, Mussel C, Volland R, Fischer M, Debatin KM, Kestler** HA, Beltinger** C
    Cancer Lett 2016, 371(1), 79-89 ** co-corresponding authors
  • Automated structure modeling of large protein assemblies using crosslinks as distance restraints.
    Ferber M, Kosinski J, Ori A, Rashid UJ, Moreno-Morcillo M, Simon B, Bouvier G, Batista PR, Müller CW, Beck M, Nilges M
    Nat Methods 2016, 13(6), 515-20 published during change of institution
  • Differential transcriptional responses to Ebola and Marburg virus infection in bat and human cells.
    Hölzer M, Krähling V, Amman F, Barth E, Bernhart SH, Carmelo VAO, Collatz M, Doose G, Eggenhofer F, Ewald J, Fallmann J, Feldhahn LM, Fricke M, Gebauer J, Gruber AJ, Hufsky F, Indrischek H, Kanton S, Linde J, Mostajo N, Ochsenreiter R, Riege K, Rivarola-Duarte L, Sahyoun AH, Saunders SJ, Seemann SE, Tanzer A, Vogel B, Wehner S, Wolfinger MT, Backofen R, Gorodkin J, Grosse I, Hofacker I, Hoffmann S, Kaleta C, Stadler PF, Becker S, Marz M
    Sci Rep 2016, 6, 34589
  • Structure of the ribosome post-recycling complex probed by chemical cross-linking and mass spectrometry.
    Kiosze-Becker K, Ori A, Gerovac M, Heuer A, Nürenberg-Goloub E, Rashid UJ, Becker T, Beckmann R, Beck M, Tampé R
    Nat Commun 2016, 7, 13248
  • Semantic multi-classifier systems for the analysis of gene expression profiles
    Lausser* L, Schmid* F, Platzer M, Sillanpää JM, Kestler AH
    Data Science Series A (Online-First) 2016, 1(1) * equal contribution
  • BiTrinA - multiscale binarization and trinarization with quality analysis.
    Mϋssel C, Schmid F, Blätte TJ, Hopfensitz M, Lausser** L, Kestler** HA
    Bioinformatics 2016, 32(3), 465-8 ** co-senior authors