Competences
Main axes of research
Using fundamental molecular medicine and integrative systems biology approaches, the objective of the unit is to gain further insights in deciphering common characteristics in Alzheimer’s disease, the metabolic syndrome (atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes) and cancer. One of the unambiguous cardinal features at the intersection of these diseases is chronic inflammation. Prolonged inflammation leads to a progressive shift in the type of cells present at the site of inflammation, in the reorganisation of the inflamed tissue and in the broad response of the tissue or even of the organism. The specific goal of this research is to understand basic biological processes contributing to inflammation, and to integrate information collected at the genome, transcriptome, proteome and physiome level to model essential features of the inflammatory process by a systems biology approach.
The research unit comprises 6 research laboratories:
The Signal Transduction Group, the Nuclear Receptor Group, the Cytoskeleton and Cell Plasticity Group, the Neuroinflammation Group, the Calcium Signalling Group, the Systems Biology Group.
Resources and collaborations
Equipment
- Facilities for cell culture, molecular biology and biochemistry
- Hypoxia cell culture station
- Quantitative epifluorescence cell imaging system (LEICA microscope, Princeton CDD camera) and data exploration software (Metaview)
- FACSCanto II flow cytometer
- Zeiss LSM 510 Meta confocal microscope,
- Quantitative real time PCR machines (BIORAD)
- Fluorimeter
- Beckman ultra-centrifuge
- A gel/blot detection facility, an Odyssey far-red fluorescence detection facility, a luminometer
- Amaxa electroporator, spectrophotometers, a Nanodrop device
- Phosphoimager
- Multiwell-plate reader
- Automated liquid sample distribution station
- PCs / servers with up-to-date Systems Biology and Bioinformatics software to build and analyse mathematical models of biological processes
Products and services
- Mathematical modelling and analysis of biological / complex systems
- Screening for small molecules which target the actin cytoskeleton
- Cell-based assays for drug screening (read-outs: gene expression, proliferation, apoptosis, migration, subcellular translocation of fluorescent proteins)
- Testing of newly developed antibodies
- Scientific consulting
- Concomitant intracellular calcium and superoxide release measurements by fluorometry
- Flow cytometry analyses
- Confocal microscopy imagery
- Several in vitro models of innate immune reaction
- Astrogliosis
- Differentiation of rodent neural stem cells
- Interaction between cultured cells and their substrate
Major partnerships and collaborations
National: CRP-Santé; Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg; Laboratoire National de Santé; CRP Gabriel Lippmann; Axoglia
International: Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle (USA); TGen, Phoenix (USA); RWTH Aachen Medical School (DE); Freiburg University Medical School (DE); University of Stuttgart (DE); University of Kuopio (FI); University of Strasbourg (FR); University of Paris-Sud (FR); Institute of Systems Biology, Amsterdam (NL); Gent University-VIB (BE); Belarus State University, Minsk (BY); DKFZ Heidelberg (DE); EMBL, Heidelberg (DE); IGBMC, Strasbourg (FR); IGMM, Montpellier (FR); Novartis, Basel (CH); PharmaMar, Madrid (ES)
Additional information
- EC-funded Marie Curie Research Training Network ReceptEUR (partner)
- Marie Curie Research Training Network NucSYS (coordinator)
- International-funded Human Frontier Science Program (partner)
Human resources
- 31 Researchers (Prof., ass. Prof., Post-docs, PhD)
- 28 Doctoral students and students
- 0 Engineers
- 8 Technicians
- 5 Other
Business sector(s)
- Life Sciences, health and biotechnology
Contact
Life Sciences Research Unit
Campus Limpertsberg, 162a, avenue de la Faïencerie, L-1511 Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Phone: +352 46 66 44 66 45
Email: iris.behrmann@uni.lu
Site: http://bio.uni.lu
R&D Contact
Prof. BEHRMANN Iris
Head of Unit
Phone: +352 46 66 44 67 40
Email: iris.behrmann@uni.lu
