The Laboratory of Systems Biology is a part of thein , .
The main aim of the laboratory is to study regulation of intracellular processes and understand functional influences of intracellular interactions.
For this, a mixture of experimental and theoretical approaches are used.
SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS, PROJECTS
- Intracellular compartmentation and diffusion restrictions, influence on bioenergetics.
- How the fine structure of mitochondrion is influencing the dynamics of oxidative phosphorylation?
- Regulation of energy transfer in different types of cells.
- Metabolic stability of heart muscle cells.
- Interaction between mechanics and energetics of the heart.
We use interdisciplinary approaches to tackle questions in cardiac physiology. For that, we have formed a team of researchers with backgrounds in biophysics, biology, and applied mathematics/physics. As a result, we are able to approach scientific questions on different scales, from organ to molecular level, using combinations of different experimental and theoretical techniques. When needed, we find new ways to characterize the data, develop new mathematical models, build new hardware and program it to carry out novel experimental protocols. For example, we have developed mitochondrial positioning analysis in 2D and 3D, and built a confocal microscope to study diffusion in the cell. Among the experimental techniques routinely used in the laboratory are
- kinetic measurements,
- fluorescence correlation spectroscopy based techniques,
- confocal and wide-field fluorescence imaging,
- controlled single cell force measurements,
- patch clamping.
We have developed models
- to study energetics and mechanics of the left ventricle as well as intracellular diffusion using finite element method,
- solved partial differential equations to analyze cross-bridge mechanoenergetics,
- used molecular dynamics to analyze interaction between proteins and mitochondrial membrane,
- designed multiple other models and computational techniques to analyze the experimental data.
The research in laboratory is/was financed by
- European Regional Development Fund [ , 2011-2015],
- [Aug 2007-Jan 2014],
Head: Marko Vendelin Laboratory of Systems Biology Institute of Cybernetics Tallinn University of Technology Akadeemia 21 12618 Tallinn Estonia Fax: +372 620 4151 Phone: +372 620 4169 http://sysbio.ioc.ee