29 & 30 September 2011, Groningen

Welcome

It is our great pleasure to welcome you at the second Symposium of Systems Genetics: from man to microbe, from genotype to phenotype.

The availability of complete genome sequences from man and a wide range of other species, and the development of high-throughput technologies have led to the accumulation of biological data at an unprecedented scale. These data are different in nature as they come from various sources and they provide detailed information on the individual components of living cells. However, ample experimental and theoretical evidence indicates that extensive knowledge about the individual components is insufficient to describe the operation of complex cellular systems as a whole. Hence, a central challenge for biology and medicine is to reach a much deeper understanding of the operation of whole cells and cellular assemblies. The complex dynamic behavior of these biological systems is sustained by complex networks of interactions between the individual components. Thus, biological systems cannot be understood intuitively, and theory-based approaches are necessary to unravel this complexity. This insight has led to the emergence of Systems Biology, a holistic approach that is based on the view that biological systems are composed of two types of information: genes, encoding proteins that form the molecular machines that execute the functions of life, and networks of regulatory interactions that control the hierarchical flow of information from DNA to mRNA to proteins to molecular machines to metabolites and, ultimately, to phenotype. The present symposium “Systems Genetics: from man to microbe, from genotype to phenotype” focuses attention on the genetic aspects in Systems Biology. It brings together leading experts in the field, who will present key-note lectures and, in addition, will attend master classes in which they will share their experience with PhD students and post-doctoral researchers.

We wish you a scientifically challenging and pleasant symposium,

Jan Maarten van Dijl (Microbiology)

Bert Groen (Systems biology)

Gerald de Haan (Stem cell biology)

Ritsert Jansen (Bioinformatics)

Cisca Wijmenga (Genetics)

 

Symposium Venue:

University of Groningen

Academic Building

Broerstraat 5

9712 CP Groningen

 

Confirmed key-note speakers include:

Jun Wang                                        BGI, China

Matthias Heinemann                          RUG, Netherlands

Timothy J. Aitman                             Imperial College, UK

Henk Stunnenberg                            NCMLS, Netherlands

Uwe Völker                                     University of Greifswald, Germany

Bas van Steensel                             NKI, Netherlands'

Peter Lansdorp                                Eriba Institute, Netherlands

Alan D Attie                                    UW Madison, United States