Systems biology short course : Integration of multi-omics data into genome-scale models for biomedical and nutritional applications

Université de Lorraine, Présidence Léopold

Nancy, France

4-8^th December 2023

We are delighted to invite you to a Systems Biology Short Course. The course consists of lectures and hands-on tutorials and aims to teach state of the art systems biology methods for the integration of multi-omics data into genome-scale models. The course is aimed at MSc and PhD students with a background in biomedical sciences, bioinformatics, or computational biology. Experience in systems biology is not strictly necessary.  The course is limited to 20 participants. The course will be taught in English.

This Short Course focusses on the Constraint-Based Reconstruction and Analysis (COBRA) approach and its use for the contextualization of high-throughput omics data (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, metagenomics) from experiments and cohort studies. COBRA is a computational systems biology method that uses biochemically detailed genome-scale reconstructions to predict sample-and context-specific metabolic properties in a target organism. Applications of the COBRA approach include research on biochemical pathways, nutrition, rare or common diseases (e.g., gene defects, cardiometabolic diseases, cancer), host-microbe interactions, microbial ecology, and biotechnology. While many COBRA applications have focused on academic research, genome-scale models are also increasingly used in industry, e.g., for metabolic engineering or design of probiotic formulas.

The course will cover both the principles of the COBRA approach and recent innovative data-driven multi-scale modeling applications. Topics include the integration of omics data into genome-scale models to predict differential fluxes in disease states, and the application of constraint-based modeling to precision medicine (e.g., prediction of nutritional or therapeutic interventions).

The course takes place at Nancy, a vibrant university city that is home to the UNESCO World Heritage site Place Stanislas. In December, Nancy is hosting its traditional St. Nicholas market.