The NTNU Lipid Signalling (PLA2) Group is headed by professor Berit Johansen, and explores molecular mechanisms of intracellular communication. This has been achieved using conventional methods for signal transduction analysis, such as diverse molecular and cellular techniques (including generation of transgenic mice) and computational methods.
Our cellular models are of human origin, reflecting inflammation in chronic diseases, such as psoriasis and cardiovascular disease. New understanding of inflammatory mechanisms has been generated, via identification of new players in the intracellular signaling cascades in human skin cells and blood monocytes, and how these are regulated. These serve two purposes: more detailed understanding of the biology of human disease and the identification of new molecular targets for therapeutic intervention and exploitation. The PLA2 group has strategies in both.
Two new researchers have joined the PLA2 group during 2005. As development of chronic diseases is often determined by lifestyle, we want to capture the molecular gene fingerprint of the dietary component in lifestyle diseases. A systems biology approach has been initiated in order to uncover these mechanisms.
One of the postdoctoral researchers in the PLA2 group spent 6 months in the laboratory of our collaborator at MIT (USA), studying the interaction between monocytes and endothelial cells in arteries – an example of advanced translational research in cardiovascular disease.
The computational approach to signal transduction analyses in our group has resulted in successful generation of the computer modeling program CellCom. This is a result of close collaboration between three departments at NTNU: the Computer Department, researchers at the Medical Faculty and the PLA2 group.
As identification of new therapeutic targets in disease prevention and therapy is among the priorities of the group, a new company was established in 2005. Avexxin AS (www.avexxin.com) has development and commercialization of anti-inflammatory drugs as its primary goal. It is a Norwegian company, and our first drug (for treatment of psoriasis) will enter into clinical trials before the end of 2006.
Two MSc students have graduated in systems biology during 2005. In collaboration with the Linnaeus Bioinformatics Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, and researchers at the Medical Faculty NTNU, an unsupervised learning method has successfully been employed to extract valuable biological knowledge from transcriptional profiling data. In addition, new understanding of how certain lipids regulate intracellular signal transduction has been visualized in living cells by use of laser confocal microscopy.
