SYSBIOL: a new platform for understanding disease pathogenesis from blood plasma samples
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Molecular understanding of the pathogenesis of diseases previously labelled idiopathic has benefited greatly from the recent development of powerful -omics analysis techniques.
In particular, the characterization of the human genome and the refinement of sequencing techniques have enabled the identification of mutations at the origin of many monogenic diseases, and the more recent development of polygenic risk scores for common diseases.
However, genome-wide variations, taken in isolation, are only weakly correlated with clinical phenotype, due to multiple levels of regulation downstream of gene expression.
Taking account of this complex regulation (epigenetic, post-transcriptional and translational) requires additional layers of analysis, including the transcriptome, proteome and metabolome.
Integrating these multi-omics data with clinical phenotype and even environmental data (the exposome) enables a holistic, unbiased approach to understanding complex diseases.
It does, however, pose the challenge of analyzing datasets that require the development of sophisticated bioinformatics tools, with the possible addition of artificial intelligence algorithms.
Pour relever ce défi, plusieurs acteurs du Secteur des Sciences de la Santé (, ainsi que les - Campus de Woluwé) ont décidé de mettre en commun leurs expertises pour constituer une filière unique, allant du malade à l’identification de nœuds physiopathologiques de sa maladie par une approche de Systems Biology, ou biologie des systèmes.
To meet this challenge, several actors in the Health Sciences sector (IREC, LDRI and DDUV, as well as Cliniques Saint-Luc - Campus de Woluwé) have decided to pool their expertise to create a unique pathway, from the patient to the identification of the pathophysiological nodes of his or her disease, using a Systems Biology approach.
This pipeline includes :
- collection of clinical data and biological samples from patients,
- pre-analytical treatment of these samples,
- analysis using the latest genomic, metagenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic techniques,
- integration of results into a multi-modal database
- bioinformatics processing using, among other techniques, interaction network analysis (network biology), inspired by the mathematical theories of complex graph analysis.
Ultimately, the aim is to establish a list of factors involved in the establishment of idiopathic pathology.
History of the platform creation
Initially set up thanks to funding from the Sofina Solidarity Fund via the Fondation Saint-Luc, which allowed to reinforce the equipment and staffing of existing -omics platforms, this pipeline was (and still is) applied to the study of the pathophysiology of SARS-COV-2 infection, and in particular the mechanisms underlying the long COVID syndrome (HYGIEIA project).
Initially monocentric, recruitment for this study has been extended to the Grand Hôpital de Charleroi (GHDC), the CHU Namur-Mont-Godinne, the Clinique de l'Europe and the Clinique Saint-Pierre d'Ottignies.
More broadly, the project is part of the MedReSyst (Networks and Systems Medicine) project portfolio of Wallonia's Strategic Innovation Initiative, within the framework of FEDER funding from the European Commission.
On this basis, the project founders have decided to open up access to the pipeline to clinicians and academic researchers who wish to apply this paradigm to their clinical or basic research, by creating the Systems Biology Core Facility within the Health Sciences Sector.
This new platform is trans-institutional, involving people and structures from IREC, LDRI and DDUV, as well as Cliniques Saint-Luc (see above).
How to access?
Access is simple and flexible:
- the interested academic fills in an interactive form available on the SYSBIOL website to describe the broad outlines of his or her project;
- a steering committee assesses the project and, if necessary, organizes a meeting with the applicant to clarify the objectives and modalities;
- an estimate is calculated and a timetable set.
The platform operates on a fee-for-service basis, offering prices that are competitive with the benchmark (e.g. commercial), while guaranteeing coverage of operating and personnel costs in proportion to usage.