Doctoral Programme in Systems and Molecular Biomedicine

Molecular Biomedicine

The Life Science Research Unit (LSRU) has developed over the last decade fundamental research investigating at a molecular , cellular , and organism’s levels  the bases of major diseases. A specific focus is given on chronic inflammation  (priority 3, previous 4-Y-Plan). Linked to systems biology, this program which is detailed in annexe A, has offered many  training opportunities  to doctoral candidates who participated in UL, FNR and EU funded projects. Team leaders  have strong expertise in molecular cell biology, biochemistry and systems biology. Presently they train or co-supervise 21 PhD students  in research areas relevant to m olecular medicine and systems biology . In addition, an increasing number of PhD students  enrolled at UL and co-supervised by LSRU members is  trained at the Centre de Recherche Public-Santé  (addressed areas: pathologies of the brain, cancer biology, immunology, infectious diseases). It is predictable that the recent founding of IBBL will further strengthen research in Molecular Medicine and more specifically in cancer biology.

System Biomedicine

The Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) forms a highly interdisciplinary environment at the  interface of experimental biology, bioinformatics, computer science, physics and medicine . Experimental, high throughput technologies and computational approaches are combined to analyze complex biological systems and disease processes. A major focus of the LCSB is on the study of neurodegenerative diseases , with an emphasis on Parkinson’s disease. Diseases are looked at as "perturbations of networks" and experiments are carried out to understand the topology and dynamics of disease pathogenesis. New bioinformatics and computational tools  are developed in order to integrate different networks, for example, regulatory, protein­-protein interaction, proteomic and metabolic networks. On the  basis of mathematical models , disease mechanisms are analyzed to increase the predictability of the safety and the efficacy of new medical prevention and intervention strategies.