Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine

The Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) is one of three interdisciplinary research centres at the University of Luxembourg. Since September 2011, the LCSB is based on the new university campus Esch-Belval.

Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine

Location Esch/Alzette, Campus Belval, Luxembourg
Host University of Luxembourg
Field of Research Systems Biology, Systems Biomedicine
Director Prof. Dr. Rudi Balling
Website http://wwwen.uni.lu/lcsb

Research

The LCSB was founded in 2009 as the first biomedical research centre of the University of Luxembourg by the founding director Prof. Dr. Rudi Balling. The main goal of the LCSB is to accelerate biomedical research by closing the link between systems biology and medical research.

The LCSB currently counts about 250 employees and 15 research groups in the areas of experimental neurobiology, cell metabolism, computational biology, bioinformatics, eco-systems biology, and translational medicine. Collaboration between biologists, medical doctors, computer scientists, physicists and mathematicians is offering new insights into complex systems like cells, organs and whole organisms in both health and disease states. These findings are essential for understanding principal mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and for developing new tools in diagnostics and therapy.

Close collaboration with clinicians and patients are of utmost importance to the LCSB. Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and description of diseases as networks are at the focus of the LCSB’s research. It aims to contribute to earlier diagnosis and personalized treatment, for instance through its coordinating role in the recently established National Centre of Excellence in Research on Parkinson’s Disease.

The LCSB promotes the translation of fundamental research results into (clinical) applications that can directly benefit the patients. Two examples are the recently launched projects: ParkinsonNet Luxembourg and pdp (Programme Démence Prévention) that focus on integrated care networks. Such networks allow the continuous improvement of the exchange between patients and healthcare professionals, and ensure optimal treatment. ParkinsonNet Luxembourg, modeled after the Dutch ParkinsonNet, aims to bring together healthcare professionals and facilitates Parkinson-specific specialisation, interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange of knowledge. Considering the many sides of Parkinson’s disease and the multitude of symptoms that vary from patient to patient, the treatment of the disease requires the interaction between doctors, therapists and many other healthcare professionals. It is thus important that occupational, speech and physical therapists, neurologists, neuropsychologists and researchers are working closely. Pdp (Programme Démence Prévention) is a project financially supported by the Ministry of Health. It aims to efficiently reduce dementia and focuses on preventive measures for people suffering from mild cognitive impairment.


The LCSB also hosts the Luxembourgish node of ELIXIR, the European infrastructure for life science information. ELIXIR Luxembourg (ELIXIR-LU) focuses on long-term sustainability of tools and data for Translational Medicine. Translational Medicine data integrate clinical information with molecular and cellular data for a better understanding of diseases. They bridge the gap between the molecular level, findings from the laboratory, and the clinical observations and applications. ELIXIR-LU aims to facilitate long-term access to those research data and to tools for scientists in both academia and industry. This will allow the reuse of previously generated translational data to address new research questions and dramatically save time and cost.

The Centre has established strategic partnerships with leading biomedical laboratories worldwide and with all major biological and medical research units in Luxembourg. The LCSB fosters collaboration with industrial partners and accelerates the translation of fundamental research results into (clinical) applications.

See also

References
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