Workshop on Systems Pharmacology

A workshop "Systems Pharmacology - Towards a European Network?" will be held on Thursday May 2nd in Leiden, The Netherlands. Systems pharmacology is an emerging discipline, which connects systems biology (i.e. genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) to quantitative pharmacology (i.e. mechanism-based PKPD modelling) to obtain fundamental insights in the interactions between drugs and diseases. Recently, interest in this field has increased substantially. It is seen as a novel scientific approach to the design of (complex) therapeutic interventions to modify disease processes. Such complex therapeutic interventions are referred to as "systems therapeutics" and include: i) personalised treatments, ii) rational drug combinations and iii) pre-emptive and preventive treatments. The development of novel diagnostic tests ("systems diagnostics") is an integral part of these interventions. The field of systems pharmacology is highly multidisciplinary, with contributions from (molecular) biology, bio-analytical chemistry, pharmacology, bio-informatics, mathematics and statistics. The objective of this workshop is to bring experts from different disciplines together to discuss the academic, industrial and regulatory aspects of systems pharmacology, ongoing initiatives and a number of case studies. The ultimate goal of the workshop is to explore the opportunities for establishing a "systems pharmacology" network. The conclusions of the workshop will be published in an international scientific journal. Information and Registration: http://www.cvent.com/events/workshop-on-systems-pharmacology-towards-a-european-network-/event-summary-dce03aa8c067445bb8f9827fb8082267.aspx?i=e211d2ee-5308-4247-aba0-203aa35ddd93 Meindert Danhof Piet van der Graaf