Complex diseases are common conditions that often go undetected until they become severe, as symptoms tend to appear in later stages. This highlights the critical importance of prevention and early detection. We use a holistic research approach combining epidemiological, statistical and bioinformatic methods in order to improve the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of complex diseases, such as cardiovascular, oncological, immunological, metabolic, inflammatory and other disorders. This includes identifying molecular signatures that represent pathological processes for improved disease understanding, but also the discovery or validation of new candidate therapeutic targets, as well as signatures that may be useful for diagnostic, prognostic, or therapy monitoring applications.
Complex diseases are the result of a confluence of many factors, including genetics, ageing, and the exposome, i.e., the sum of all factors to which individuals are exposed over the course of life. Hence, to identify and understand the pathological processes predisposing to or exacerbating complex disease, one should consider all factors in their totality. Here, it is important not to focus on a single organ system or biological process separately, as all systems in the body are in interaction with one another. This is referred to as a systems medicine approach.
Using UK Biobank data will support our research by validating the findings obtained in the Gutenberg cohort studies conducted by the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Additionally, we aim to perform discovery investigations of multi-omics data, including genetics, protein profiles, lifestyle and additional environmental factors, to predict and understand the development and progression of complex disease according to a systems medicine-oriented research approach. The use of deep learning methods can help define novel image-derived features to provide more sensitive operationalizations of pathological (sub)clinical changes to augment the current understanding of developing or worsening disease.
