Growth and Ageing from a Systems Biology Perspective
Full course description
“At first glance, growth and aging appear to be opposites. Growth is the energy-driven synthesis of macromolecules from simple nutrients, an increase of order and a decrease of entropy. Aging is decay, a loss of order and a rise of entropy. Seemingly, growth and aging are mutually exclusive. Forever proliferating cells, such as legendary hydras, do not show signs of aging. In contrast, when an organism ceases to grow, aging follows. However, manipulations that decrease growth also decrease aging and prolong life span.” (Blaglosklonny and Hall, 2009).
To probe the complexity of the growth and aging process, a combination of approaches will be sought to understand how aging is caused via
- studying the intracellular mechanisms that play a role in growth and aging and age-related damage in the musculoskeletal system
- studying how the accumulated damage in cells (which may vary considerably between individual cells) gives rise to age-related decline in tissue function in the musculoskeletal system .
Systems biology is focused on developing biological, technical and computational tools to interpret the complexity of (age-related) disorders, pathologies and health states to enable diagnosis, therapy and prevention for the individual patient. P4 medicine (predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory) employs the strategies and tools of systems biology for quantifying wellness and deciphering disorders. The systems biology approach uses data that ranges from molecular and cellular data, conventional medical data, demographic and environmental data, and imaging.
In this course, growth of humans as well as aging and degeneration of the human body will be studied making use of cases with different (stages of) disorders and comorbidities, illustrating the complexity of an evolving organism. This course will focus particularly on muscle-, bone- and cartilage-related growth, aging and disorders using short, interactive lectures.
Course objectives
At the end of this course, students have gained knowledge and understanding of the following topics:
Knowledge and understanding
The student:
- has knowledge of and insight in the normal growth and aging mechanisms of the muscles, bone and cartilage
- is able to identify the main characteristics of complex health-related disorders linked to the aging process
- can use a systems biology approach to identify relationships between growth and aging-related disorders on the one hand, and possible consequences of such disorders at the level of activity and participation (restrictions) on the other hand
Applying knowledge and understanding
The student is able to:
- apply the systems biology approach to interpret health-related problems that arise from growth and aging disorders with regard to muscles, bone and cartilage function and development
- apply the knowledge of muscle, bone and cartilage physiology to explain the consequences of growth and ageing disorders on functioning in all age categories
- integrate the measurement findings of the Biodex system in the physiotherapeutic clinical reasoning process
Making judgments
The student is able to:
- differentiate between normal and abnormal prognosis in growth and aging-related disorders with regard to muscle, bone and cartilage function and development
- interpret the results from the four practicals, such as analyze and evaluate the effects of post-exercise cooling on muscle strength using the Biodex system
Communication
The student is able to:
- communicate with experts and non-experts, verbally and by means of written reports, on normal and abnormal prognosis in growth and aging-related disorders with regard to muscle, bone and cartilage function and development
- write a well-structured, concise and well-argumented practical report on the findings from the four practicals