CELLS INTO ORGANS: Functional genomics for development and disease of mesodermal organ systems

• Forschungsstelle: EU FRP
• Projektnummer: 03.0643-2
• Projekttitel Englisch: CELLS INTO ORGANS: Functional genomics for development and disease of mesodermal organ systems

Schlüsselwörter (Englisch)

Development; disease; genomics; genetics; mesoderm; organogenesis

Alternative Projektnummern (Englisch)

EU project number: 504468

Forschungsprogramme (Englisch)

EU-programme: 6. Frame Research Programme - 1.1.2a

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

See abstract

Abstract (Englisch)

The development of new approaches to treating disease will revolutionize health care in the coming decade. Manipulation of stem cells for cell and tissue replacement therapies holds great promise for treatment of degenerative disease and injury. Both approaches depend critically on detailed knowledge of the molecular and cellular events governing normal differentiation of the target organs and tissues. Many important diseases affect organ systems - such- as heart, vascular system, blood; kidneys, skeleton, and musculature - deriving substantially or exclusively from mesodermal cells. Heart failure and strokes resulting from atherosclerosis, kidney failure, muscular dystrophy, osteoporosis, tumours and leukaemia are caused either by defects in development of these mesoderm containing organ systems or in their function, frequently as a consequence of aging. This is a very important area of research where there is a great need to integrate resources. This applies notably to the recent advent of high throughput techniques and availability of related facilities like micro arrays. Too few scientists think in a multi-problem, multi- system or multitechnical way. This indicates the need to train a new generation of young researchers. The primary purpose of this network is to develop an integrated approach to research into mesodermal organ systems. We integrate developmental genetics and experimental embryology with modern cell biology and genome scale analysis. These new technologies will enable us to identify genes which function in building a specific organ. A major revelation of developmental biology has been the extent to which molecular strategies are redeployed, even during regeneration. Thus this information is the basic knowledge required for organ and tissue engineering. We integrate twenty-four leading European groups in eleven renowned centres of excellence into the world's leading network for investigating the development and disease of mesodermal organ systems.

Datenbankreferenzen (Englisch)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 03.0643-2