Johan Björkegren: "A Multi-Tissue Systems Approach to Coronary Atherosclerosis - A Network Road Ahead"

Johan Björkegren
Medical Biophysics and Biochemistry, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

A Multi-Tissue Systems Approach to Coronary Atherosclerosis - A Network Road Ahead

Biological events are best described as a web of molecules and interactions. Depending on the time and situation, the most important molecules within this web for a given process or disease will alternate. Moreover, molecular webs are not only active within tissues but also across different tissues. Coronary atherosclerosis, already responsible for 50 % of all deaths in developed and developing countries, will in 2012 surpass Malaria as the most deadly disease all categories. Fighting this multi-facet disease does not need "candidate genes" but disclosing the network representations of the whole spectra of its underlying molecular pathologies. We aim at mapping the molecular networks responsible for premature development of coronary atherosclerosis by performing high-through put screening of genome-wide DNA and RNA.