Energy metabolism, i.e. the generation of energy-rich compounds such as ATP from our food, and the use of this energy for a large number of body functions, is a central theme in most research related to food, health, and disease. The concept 'energy' is described at different levels of body, organ, or cell, and at each of these levels it is related to important functional aspects. This can, for example, be achieving goals in sports, generating adequate physiological reserves to get through times of scarcity or hard work, or - very important for Centre for Systems Biology and Bioenergetics (CSBB)– understanding the relationship between disturbed energy metabolism and onset of a variety of diseases and health problems.
 
The CSBB will receive € 4.5 M million for the development of in silico models that will integrate  the available knowledge about the energy metabolism of the human muscle. These models will be used to study hereditary muscle diseases, defects in energy homeostasis as well as the effects of medicine and nutrition interventions on energy processes. Jan Smeitink, a professor at the UMC St Radboud and Director of the CSBB: "it is a wonderful application of systems biology, an approach which is particularly important for the further development of medicine."
 
Whereas ‘traditional biology’ investigates the workings of individual components of a system, for example the lipid metabolism or cellular architecture in a cell or tissue, ‘systems biology’ investigates all the individual components simultaneously and the interactions between them, all as part of a single system.
 
From the wet-lab to the computer-lab (and back)
In each human cell, small power plants produce energy ensuring that the cell can do its work. This energy production is complex and finely-balanced. However, if this balance is disturbed, energy production, distribution and use can be affected in a way that will ultimately will lead to illness.
 
"In the Centre for Systems Biology and Bioenergetics more than thirty-five research groups of the UMC St Radboud and the Radboud University will work together to develop an innovative computer model that can accurately predict energy metabolism," says Jan Smeitink, "We will combine the diverse knowledge and know-how of physicists, chemists, computer scientists, physiologists, biologists and medical practitioners, so that we can input 'wet-lab" biological data in a 'dry’ computer model. The computer model will allow realistic calculations, analysis and predictions of energy metabolism, as well as the effects of medicine and nutraceuticals upon these metabolic pathways.
 
This application involves nine CSBB Principal Investigator (PI) groups, each having extensive collaborations with local, national, and international research groups and other stake-holders like patient organizations and industry.
 
Group  Names:
 
1   Nijmegen Centre for Mitochondrial Disorders (NCMD), RUNMC  Prof. J.A.M. Smeitink 
      Mitochondrial Medicine 

2.  (Bio)informatics & Biophysics, RUNMC   Prof. M.A. Huynen 
      Data integration, modelling 
      -Prof. G. Vriend 
      -Dr. M. Hekkelman 
      -Dr. R.A. Notebaart 
      -Prof. C.C. Gielen 
      -Prof. P.H.E. Tiesinga 

3.   Machine learning & Chemometrics, RU  Prof. L. Buydens 
      Neural networks and multivariate statistics  
      -Dr. E. Marchiori 

4.   Membrane Biochemistry, RUNMC  Dr. P.H.G.M. Willems 
      Mitochondrial dynamics and pathophysiology  
      -Dr. W.J.H. Koopman 

5.   Mitochondrial Biochemistry, RUNMC  Dr. R.J.T. Rodenburg 
      Proteomics/metabolomics 
      -Dr. L.G.J. Nijtmans 
      -Dr. L.P. van Heuvel 
      -Dr. R. Wevers 
      -Dr. U. Engelke 

6.   Physiology, RUNMC Prof. R.J.M. Bindels 
      Regulation of ion transport  
      -Dr. P. Deen 
      -Dr. J. Hoenderop 

7.   Radiology, RUNMC  Prof. A. Heerschap 
      Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 
      -Dr. T. Scheenen 

8.   Pharmacology & Toxicology, RUNMC  Prof. F.G.M. Russel 
      Drug efficacy and safety 
      -Dr. G. Rongen 
      -Prof. F. Rutjes 

9.   Human Genetics, RUNMC  Prof. H.G. Brunner 
      Transcriptomics 
      -Dr. J. Veltman 

The list of human diseases and conditions that involve disturbances in cellular energy homeostasis holds many examples of great socio-economic importance such as various forms of cancer, genetic forms of Parkinson disease, drug-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, nutrient deficiencies, hypoxia-related injuries and even the normal process of aging.
 
http://www.csb-bioenergetics.nl/
www.ncmls.eu/newfrontiers2010
http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOP_82YEW2(Dutch)