Niels Grabe: "EPISYS: Measuring and Modelling Epidermal Homeostasis"

Prof. Niels Grabe
Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University Hospital Heidelberg

EPISYS: Measuring and Modelling Epidermal Homeostasis

Epidermal tissue homeostasis is a complex but ideal field of study for systems biology. The works in the group are directed towards a technical platform for researching the homeostasis of epithelial tissue, which would be an important contribution to medical applications of systems biology. Experimentally, EPISYS develops approaches for quantifying epidermal homeostasis by spatial profiling of biomarker expression patterns using indirect immunofluorescence of cryo and paraffin tissue sections. Microscopy is performed using automated whole-slide scanner (virtual microscopy). Subsequent image processing reconstructs spatiotemporal networks of epidermal differentiation markers. On the modelling side, a platform for the multi-cellular simulation of the epidermis using finite state machines is developed. Recent experimental and theoretical results are shown and the impact of whole-slide scanning for developing systems biology into systems pathology emphasized.