Molecular and systems epidemiology are emerging innovative branches of epidemiology developed by combining molecular, cellular and biochemical concepts and techniques with traditional epidemiological and computational models to study risk factors and pathogenesis of complex diseases.
Epidemiology has been proven valuable to identify associations between exposure and disease in populations. Yet, traditional epidemiology does so without obtaining information of the biological processes that underlie the associations. The availability of high-throughput omics data and various clinical outcomes in the population-based cohort studies has created a great opportunity for studies to integrate different omics layers and build a comprehensive and dynamic model of the molecular changes in complex diseases. Molecular and systems epidemiology could enhance the measurement of exposure, effect and susceptibility, and also give in-depth insight into complex biological mechanisms, and generate novel hypotheses about disease mechanisms. This knowledge will ultimately lead to the identification of early etiologic, diagnostic, and prognostic markers of disease and allow us to better target preventive strategies and yield new therapeutics for complex diseases.
The team in this research line focuses on the identification of genetic determinants and novel biomarkers for common age-related diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and fatty liver disease). We biobank of the biological samples of participants of prospective population-based Rotterdam Study (~18,000) and the Erasmus Rucphen Family study (~3,000), integrate multi-omics data (genomics, epi-genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics), apply advanced statistical methods (e.g., Mendelian randomization, Machine learning), and conduct state-of-the-art molecular and cellular model studies.
Main fields of expertise:
Approaches: Non-coding RNAs, microRNAs, Population genomics, Epi-genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Biomarker discovery
Clinical outcomes: Age-related diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, Fatty liver disease, Cardio-metabolic disease, Cancer
Collaborations:
With the multidisciplinary aspects of our research, we have close collaborations with a range of clinical and biological parties within Erasmus MC including departments of Immunology, Gastroenterology, Neuroscience, Internal Medicine, and Genetic identification.
Moreover, the Rotterdam Study is one of the main collaborators in several national and international consortia in the field of Molecular Epidemiology (e.g. BBMRI-NL, X-omics, and CHARGE) and the group is currently involved in numerous international projects.