The German Virtual Liver Project - A systems biology approach to liver function and physiology

Aims of this project

Detailed understanding of the regenerative mechanisms in hepatocytes is of fundamental interest for clinical and pharmaceutical applications. The process of regeneration is controlled by a network of signalling pathways which crucially depend on time and activation strength. The joint research project "The German Virtual Liver Project" has the aim to study these cellular processes, responsible for proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis in vivo and in silico.

The focus within this project is to investigate signal cascades and the expression of target genes on a systems biological level. This demands a strong interaction between quantitative time-resolved in vivo measurements and data-based mathematical modelling. Quantitative data will serve as necessary input into the in silico network models to determine the reaction kinetics between the components which then test the underlying model. In turn, the results of the modelling give rise to differently designed experimental setups. The common effort of a quantitative theoretical and experimental investigation aims at a description of the signalling pathways essential for the regenerating hepatocyte on a systems level. The far aim of the project will be to establish a data-based virtual hepatocyte.