Posted 15 September 2009
Minister Lenihan announces flagship investment in systems biology R&D
€19.5 million commitment from Government and industry
“Today’s investment establishing Systems Biology Ireland is clear evidence of the Government’s ongoing commitment to further enhancing Ireland’s scientific base to aid our economic recovery,” said the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Conor Lenihan TD at the announcement of a new research centre in systems biology.
A powerful new way to use the strength of computers and mathematics to understand biology, systems biology seeks to unravel the complexities of cells through the use of models that predict biological behaviours. The research being undertaken at Systems Biology Ireland aims to enable quicker and better treatments of a range of medical conditions, including various cancers and should allow for better therapies to be delivered more effectively to patients.
Pictured far-right: Mr Conor Lenihan TD, the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation with Professor Frank Gannon, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (left), and Professor Walter Kolch, Director, Systems Biology Ireland (right) at the announcement of Systems Biology Ireland
Systems Biology Ireland will underpin Ireland’s extensive life science industry, including its pharmaceutical industry which employs 23,000 people and is responsible for more than 48% of the country’s export sales.
The new Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)-funded Centre for Science, Engineering and Technology, SFI CSET, Systems Biology Ireland, is led by University College Dublin and is supported by researchers in NUI Galway. The new centre is to receive €14.8 million from SFI and a further combined contribution of almost €4.7 million by Industry partners - Ark Therapeutics, Hewlett Packard, Servier, Agilent Technologies, Siemens Ireland and Protagen AG. In total, 69 highly skilled personnel will be working to deliver the Systems Biology Ireland’s research programme.
Pictured at the announcement of SBI - (front row l-r): Prof Des Fitzgerald, Vice-president for Research at UCD; Dr Hugh Brady, President, UCD; Mr Conor Lenihan TD, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation; Prof Frank Gannon, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland; Prof Boris Kholodenko, Deputy Director, Systems Biology Ireland; and Prof Walter Kolch, Director, Systems Biology Ireland. (Middle row l-r): John Martin, CSO of Ark Therapeutics; Dr Laurent Perret, Président du Comité Scientifique du Groupe de Recherches Servier; and Mark Gantly, MD Hewlett Packard, Galway. (Back row l-r) Padraig McDonnell, Country Manager, Agilent Technologies; Werner Kruckow, MD Siemens Ireland; and Prof Tim O’Brien, NUI Galway, Professor & Chair of Medicine and Director of REMEDI.
The Director of the SBI research programme “Systems Biology of Signalling Networks and Stem Cells” is Professor Walter Kolch, Director, Systems Biology Ireland, UCD, who has relocated to Ireland to lead this new SFI CSET. Alongside Professor Kolch are Professor Boris Kholodenko, Deputy Director, Systems Biology Ireland, UCD, Professor Des Higgins, UCD Professor of Bioinformatics, Professor Cormac Taylor, UCD Associate Professor of Cellular Physiology, Professor Tim O’Brien, NUI Galway, Professor & Chair of Medicine and Director of REMEDI, and Professor Frank Barry, NUI, Galway Professor of Cellular Therapy & Scientific Director, REMEDI.
Making the announcement, Minister Lenihan said: “The SFI CSET proposition has proven itself to be an effective collaborative model between academic institutions and industry. In many respects, such deep-rooted partnership encapsulates the essence of what our Smart Economy should and can be. The Government, in recognising the importance of further enhancing Ireland’s research base, is committed to ensuring that ongoing support is provided to Ireland’s leading research talent. Today’s investment towards the establishment of Systems Biology Ireland, the 10th SFI CSET, is clear evidence of this.”
Minister Lenihan also highlighted the fact that the new CSET will be a key resource as Ireland competes for high value foreign direct investment (FDI) jobs and should be a valuable asset for Irish SMEs as they seek to expand.
Systems Biology is a powerful new way to use the strength of computers and mathematics to understand biology. It seeks to unravel the complexities of cells through the use of models that predict biological behaviour. The Systems Biology Ireland (SBI) SFI CSET will endeavour to achieve this by combining expertise in systems engineering, mathematical and computational approaches with state-of-the-art technology platforms.
Outlining the potential of systems biology to speed up research and help target therapies to particular patient types, Professor Kolch said: “Systems biology takes a holistic view of the organism. It looks at the processes rather than the single components of a cell or a gene. Our research is unique in that we work with stem cells but the outcomes of our research will feed into a global effort to provide better therapies for cancer patients. Specifically, we use systems biology to improve our understanding of cell mechanisms, cell communication networks with the ultimate aim of regulating cell activity. Our work will help speed up the experimentation process, thereby reducing by years the time it takes to develop a new drug therapy. We will also work on pin-pointing the efficacy of drug therapies on different patient types so that doctors can better identify those who will respond and those who will have adverse side-effects from particular treatments.”
Welcoming the announcement of the new SFI CSET, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, Professor Frank Gannon said: “As the pipeline of new therapeutic drugs becomes constricted it is recognised that a fresh approach to understanding disease is timely. Many studies point to a systematic examination of many factors, rather than focussing on one step as the way forward. The convergence of computer modelling and the study of the biological system brings new challenges and opportunities. This latest SFI CSET will add to the skills base that is needed for the pharmaceutical companies of the future in Ireland.”
Professor Des Fitzgerald, Vice-president for Research at UCD said: “Systems Biology Ireland is a major development within the UCD Conway Institute, which has always had a strong focus on biomedical research, supported by proteomics and bioinformatics. SBI will train a new type of scientist with deep knowledge across the disciplines of biology, medical sciences, mathematics and computation.”
Systems Biology Ireland is working with a range of industry partners to develop new technologies for biomedical research and will continue to develop the links with industry to harness the State's investment in the programme.
“Life sciences customers will ultimately better understand the disease processes and will be able to develop new therapeutic treatments from the Systems Biology Ireland’s research program,” said David Medina, Executive Lead, Worldwide Life Sciences and Pharma Segment, HP. “As a result of HP and SBI's collaboration, vast amounts of data can now be affordably collected, stored, analyzed and applied from different sources on HP Extreme Data Storage technology.”
“Agilent Technologies is very proud to be associated with the systems biology CSET at the UCD Conway institute. Innovation of our key technology platforms and applications in the context of systems biology workflow is a key strategic direction for our Life Sciences Group. The technologies employed at Systems Biology Ireland will provide the means to translate ideas into practical science. This builds on the collaborative relationship we have had with the UCD Conway Institute for many years,” said Padraig McDonnell, Country Manager, Agilent Technologies.
Commenting on the investment by industry in SBI, Dr Laurent Perret, Président du Comité Scientifique du Groupe de Recherches Servier said: “Servier Laboratories has had a long and productive association with Ireland, with two manufacturing plants and several research programmes in translational medicine. Systems Biology Ireland provides a further opportunity for Servier to engage in leading-edge research in Ireland and for us to work together to address unmet medical needs using an extraordinarily powerful technology”.
“Ark Therapeutics is strategically involved in this Irish Government-funded research programme as it believes it will bring about the generation of new biological therapeutics by moving science from the reductive process of the 20th Century to a systems approach of the 21st,” said John Martin, CSO of Ark Therapeutics.
- Further information on Systems Biology Ireland is available on
www.ucd.ie/sbi
