Saptarshi Bej

Currently, I am working on understanding the molecular master switches which lead to rewiring of gene regulatory networks in common inflammatory bowel diseases and neuropsychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia. The concept of the Gut-Brain axis has been one of the most explored fields in Medical research since the inception of this Millennium. The project aims at initiating a new strategic alliance between two e:Med centres (Bonn, Kiel) and one de.NBI node (Rostock). We hypothesize that a systems-guided redefinition of gut-brain cross-disease manifestation helps to recognize and understand the immunological and neurological network perturbations of the GBA in order to identify concrete targets for therapeutic reprogramming of gene expression based on RNA-guided inactive Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9) thus restoring normal gene expression programs in disease affected cells. Our systems medicine approach takes several layers of potential deregulation (DNA, mRNA, non-coding RNAs, TFs and proteins) into account and aims to create a multi-dimensional model. The novel findings are expected to extend the results of successful GWAS studies and to build the basis for functional gut–brain axis (GBA) experiments.

In addition to this I will be aiming at examining abstract mathematical developments in systems theory and try to extract important biological information about cell-tissue interaction  from the same. I am also keen in heading into research fields such as machine learning, knowledge representation and deep learning.