Systems Biology to Combat Metabolic Syndrome

Translating our extensive biological knowledge into strategies to combat diseases is disappointingly  slow, due to the extreme complexity of biological systems. Systems biology offers highly promising tools to overcome the complexity hurdle. It systematically exploits the cycle of data-driven predictive quantitative modeling, to identify the most effective approaches, and model-driven experimentation. We propose the stepwise development of a novel type of highly focused and cost-effective international research programme aiming at understanding one of the most threatening Western world diseases: metabolic syndrome. In this programme clinical and biomedical research is combined with expertise in chemistry, physics, mathematics and system engineering.