BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Metabolism and its Role in Production of Advanced Biofuels\, Obesi
 ty and Cancer
DTSTART:20140626T110000
DTSTAMP:20260919T110846Z
UID:8bdfe40bff57b608a3fe37f506e766d3d79eea8971f6d7c97f9c55eb
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Jens Nielsen\, Chalmers University of Technology\, Gothe
 nburg (SE)\nDISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERINGAbstract:\nMeta
 bolism is the core of functioning of any cell as it ensures provision of G
 ibbs free energy as well as precursors for synthesis of cellular constitue
 nts like proteins\, lipids and DNA. Metabolism involves a large number of 
 biochemical conversion processes. Thus\, even Baker’s yeast that serves 
 as the simplest model for studying human cells\, contains more than 900 en
 zymes that catalyze more than 1\,500 biochemical reactions. In human cells
  these numbers are much larger with more than 3\,000 enzymes and more than
  5\,000 biochemical reactions. Even though the large number of reactions i
 s organized into metabolic pathways\, there is a high degree of connectivi
 ty between the reactions\, and hence it is quite complicated to study thes
 e reactions individually. It is therefore necessary to take a systemic app
 roach for analysis of metabolism\, often referred to as systems biology. W
 e are working on generating so-called genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs)
  that are comprehensive description of cellular metabolism. We have over t
 he last years reconstructed GEMs for a number of industrially important fu
 ngi\, including the Baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae\, and used th
 ese models for analysis of large data sets and for identification of novel
  targets where we can engineer the metabolism\, often referred to as metab
 olic engineering. Hereby we have developed advanced cell factories for the
  production of fuels and chemicals. Recently we have also embarked on buil
 ding a Human Metabolic Atlas\, a novel web-based database and modelling to
 ol that can be used by medical and pharmaceutical researchers to analyse c
 linical data with the objectives of identifying biomarkers associated with
  disease development and improving health care. The central technology in 
 the Human Metabolic Atlas is GEMs\, which are tissue-specific. These model
 s allow for context-dependent analysis of clinical data\, providing much m
 ore information than traditional statistical correlation analysis\, and he
 nce advance the identification of biomarkers from high-throughput experime
 ntal data that can be used for early diagnosis of metabolic related diseas
 es. In this presentation our technologies behind reconstruction\, simulati
 on and analysis of GEMs will be presented\, as well as results from studie
 s in metabolic engineering and systems medicine. In connection with the la
 tter it will also be discussed how we can advance towards modeling of the 
 gut microbiome\, which has recently demonstrated to be an active metabolic
  organ in the human body.Bio:\nEducation and degrees:\n1986  M.Sc. in Che
 mical Engineering\, Dept. of Biotechnology\, DTU\, Denmark\n1989  Ph.D. i
 n Biochemical Engineering\, DTU\, Denmark\n1995  dr.techn.\, DTU\, Denmar
 k\nEmployments:\n1986  Research Assistant\, School of Engineering\, Unive
 rsity of Western Ontario\, Canada\n1987-1989  PhD student\, Department of
  Biotechnology\, DTU\, Denmark\n1989  Post doc\, Institut für Technische
  Chemie\, Universität Hannover\, Germany\n1990-1995  Associate Research 
 Professor\, Department of Biotechnology\, DTU\, Denmark\n1995-1996  Visit
 ing Professor\, Department of Chemical Engineering\, MIT\, USA\n1996-1998
   Associate Professor\, Department of Biotechnology\, DTU\, Denmark\n1998
 -2008  Professor\, BioCentrum\, DTU\, Denmark\n2005-  Adjunct Professor\
 , Department of Biotechnology\, NTNU\, Norway\n2008-  Professor\, Departm
 ent of Chemical and Biological Engineering\, Chalmers\n2011-  Professor\,
  Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability\, DTU\, Denmark\n201
 2-  Adjunct Professor\, Department of Biotechnology\, Royal Institute of 
 Technology\, Sweden
LOCATION:MX F 1 http://map.epfl.ch/?room=mxf1
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR