◈ Topic : A systems approach to mitochondrial disorders
◈ Speaker : Dae hee Hwang
◈ Date/Time : PM 4:00/Mar.12/ 2010
◈ Place : Postech Biotech Center auditorium
◈ Information : You Me Kim (279-0689)
◈ Abstract
Living organisms execute their diverse functions by virtue of the operation of biological networks and their nodal components within or among cells. Disease arises by genetic or environmental perturbations of one or more of these networks. A systems view of disease attempts to understand dynamic networks associated with the initiation and progression of disease. In this talk, I present a systems approach that we developed to decode biological networks describing the pathogenesis of mitochondrial diseases and to discover novel major controllers, which can be potentially used as therapeutic targets and diagnostic markers. We employed the cybrid cells, as a model system, that have mutations (A to G) in the 3243th position of mitochondrial DNA, causing to eventually develop mitochondrial disorders. Using transcriptomic and proteomic profiling, we identified cellular processes that are perturbed by the mitochondrial DNA mutations and further reconstructed principal networks that are associated with mitochondrial dysfunctions. Using these networks, several major regulators governing the pathophysiological features in mitochondrial disorders were identified, which appear to contribute to controlling the mutation-driven mitochondrial dysfuctions.
