Description of the Research

Systems medicine combines both systems biology and computational modelling to bring together physiological, genetic, environmental, molecular and biochemical interactions to advance the field of medicine. We focus on metabolomics applications in biomedical research and related integrative bioinformatics. We are particularly interested in the identification of vulnerabilities to disease associated with metabolic phenotypes and the underlying mechanisms linking these vulnerabilities to the development of specific disorders and their co-morbidities. Such in-depth understanding of metabolic phenotypes in health and disease is crucial to enable the development of personalised medicine. Professor Orešič developed the popular MZmine open source project, a now popular software application for metabolomics data processing.

Group Members

• Marina Alves, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral researcher
• Alex Dickens, D.Phil. – Postdoctoral researcher
• Matilda Krakström, M.Sc. – Project researcher
• Santosh Lamichhane, Ph.D. – Academy of Finland Postdoctoral researcher
• Tuomas Lindeman – Project engineer
• Peppi Raunioniemi – Technician
• Partho Sen, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral researcher
• Henrique Caracho, M.Sc. – Visiting Ph.D. student
• Prof. Tuulia Hyötyläinen, Ph.D. (Örebro University) – Affiliated member
• Aidan McGlinchey, Ph.D., Postdoctoral research associate (Örebro University) – Affiliated member
• Ilias Thomas, Ph.D., Postdoctoral research associate (Örebro University) – Affiliated member

Main Ongoing Research Projects

• Academy of Finland : Human exposure to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances – role of the gut microbiome and bile acid metabolism in mediating impact (PFASgut) – PI (Oresic)
• COST action CA19105, Horizon 2020 Programme. LipidNET- Pan-European Network in Lipidomics and Epilipidomics. Working Group leader (Oresic), Clinical significance and applications of (epi)lipidomics
• Collaborative project, Innovative Medicines Initiative. Translational approaches to disease modifying therapy of type 1 diabetes- HARVESTing the fruits of INNODIA (INNODIA HARVEST) – Participant (Oresic)
• Academy of Finland (Postdoctoral Research project): Metabolomics meet gut microbiome. A stepping stone towards type 1 diabetes prediction and prevention – PI (Lamichhane)
• Strategic Research Agreement, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation: Metabolomic and Proteomic markers staging progression to type 1 diabetes in autoantibody positive children – PI (Oresic)
• Strategic Research Agreement, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation: Mother-infant interactions in relation to potential biomarkers of beta-cell autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes – PI (Oresic)
• Awards in Endocrinology & Metabolism, Novo Nordisk Foundation: Lipid pathways en route to islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes – PI (Oresic)
• Vetenskapsrådet: Blood-based metabolomics to predict severity and patient outcomes in traumatic brain injury – PI (Oresic)
• Collaborative project, EU Horizon 2020 Innovative Medicines Initiative: Liver Investigation: Testing Marker Utility in Steatohepatitis (LITMUS) – Metabolomics Task Force leader (Oresic)

Honors and Awards

Lifetime Honorary Fellow award to M. Orešič (2016, Metabolomics Society), in recognition of his groundbreaking development of metabolomics data processing tools and powerful analytical methods that have enabled systems-level investigations of processes that lead to obesity and diabetes, with a specific focus on type 1 diabetes.