SYSINBIO · Systems Biology as a Driver for Industrial Biotechnology

Metabolic engineering is an applied science focusing on developing new cell factories or improving existing ones. Metabolic engineering is an enabling science, and distinguishes itself from applied genetic engineering by the use of advanced analytical tools for identification of appropriate targets for genetic modifications and the use of mathematical models to perform in silico design of optimized cell factories. In recent years, there has been increasing focus on using mathematical models for design. SYSIBIO will coordinate European activities in the field of model driven metabolic engineering and also coordination of activities on other technologies required for state of the art metabolic engineering, e.g. metabolomics and fluxomics. The coordination of activities will involve establishing a database containing metabolic models for different industrially important microorganisms. The database will also contain different simulation tools required for use of these models to identify metabolic engineering targets and use of these models for analysis of omics data. SYSINBIO will also coordinate the further development of techniques required for metabolic engineering, such as metabolomics, fluxomics and identification of mutations in evolved strains. Furthermore, an important part of SYSINBIO will be coordination of education and training in the field of metabolic engineering in Europe.