The Systems Biology of Aging Group was founded by Dr. Robi Tacutu in 2016, and is part of the department of Bioinformatics and Structural Biochemistry at the Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy. The group is currently funded by a recently awarded EUR 1.9 million grant (Romanian/EU co-funded) for the project “Multi-omics Prediction System for Prioritization of Gerontological Interventions”.
The main areas of interest in the group include studying biology of ageing/biogerontology, systems biology and bioinformatics, overall the expertise required to acheive these spanning multiple research fields (from bioinformatics to synthetic biology).
With a highly multi-disciplinary team, the projects tackeled by the group include both computational aspects (data aggregation and processing, multi-dimensional data analysis, network-based methods, systems theory approaches, deep learning, etc.) as well as wet-lab experiments (in particular in-vivo testing of the computationally predicted interventions).
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Ghenea S, Chiritoiu M, Tacutu R, Miranda-Vizuete A, Petrescu SMGhenea S et al . "Targeting EDEM protects against ER stress and improves development and survival in C. elegans", PLoS genetics 18(2): e1010069, (2022)
IF: 5.90AI: 2.47
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Knyazer A, Bunu G, Toren D, Mracica TB, Segev Y, Wolfson M, Muradian KK, Tacutu R, Fraifeld VEKnyazer A et al . "Small molecules for cell reprogramming: a systems biology analysis", Aging 13(24): 25739-25762, (2021)
IF: 5.68AI: 1.16
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Matei IV, Samukange VNC, Bunu G, Toren D, Ghenea S, Tacutu RMatei IV et al . "Knock-down of odr-3 and ife-2 additively extends lifespan and healthspan in C. elegans", Aging 13(17): 21040-21065, (2021)
IF: 5.60AI: 1.16
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Constantinescu V, Chiru C, Boloni T, Florea A, Tacutu RConstantinescu V et al . "Learning flat representations with artificial neural networks", Applied Intelligence(51): 2456–2470, (2021)
IF: 5.09AI: 0.69
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Kulaga AY, Ursu E, Toren D, Tyshchenko V, Guinea R, Pushkova M, Fraifeld VE, Tacutu RKulaga AY et al . "Machine Learning Analysis of Longevity-Associated Gene Expression Landscapes in Mammals", International journal of molecular sciences 22(3): 1073, (2021)
IF: 4.56AI: 1.06
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Toren D, Yanai H, Abu Taha R, Bunu G, Ursu E, Ziesche R, Tacutu R, Fraifeld VEToren D et al . "Systems biology analysis of lung fibrosis-related genes in the bleomycin mouse model", Scientific reports 11(1): 19269, (2021)
IF: 4.38AI: 1.21
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Avelar RA, Ortega JG, Tacutu R, Tyler EJ, Bennett D, Binetti P, Budovsky A, Chatsirisupachai K, Johnson E, Murray A, Shields S, Tejada-Martinez D, Thornton D, Fraifeld VE, Bishop CL, de Magalhães JPAvelar RA et al . "A multidimensional systems biology analysis of cellular senescence in aging and disease", Genome biology 21(1): 91, (2020)
IF: 10.81AI: 9.03
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Toren D, Kulaga A, Jethva M, Rubin E, Snezhkina AV, Kudryavtseva AV, Nowicki D, Tacutu R, Moskalev AA, Fraifeld VEToren D et al . "Gray whale transcriptome reveals longevity adaptations associated with DNA repair and ubiquitination", Aging cell 19(7): e13158, (2020)
IF: 7.24AI: 2.61
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Bunu G, Toren D, Ion CF, Barardo D, Sârghie L, Grigore LG, de Magalhães JP, Fraifeld VE, Tacutu RBunu G et al . "SynergyAge, a curated database for synergistic and antagonistic interactions of longevity-associated genes", Scientific data 7(1): 366, (2020)
IF: 5.54AI: 3.25
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Bucaciuc Mracica T, Anghel A, Ion CF, Moraru CV, Tacutu R, Lazar GABucaciuc Mracica T et al . "MetaboAge DB: a repository of known ageing-related changes in the human metabolome", Biogerontology 21(6): 763-771, (2020)
IF: 3.77AI: 1.13
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Martin EC, Sukarta OCA, Spiridon L, Grigore LG, Constantinescu V, Tacutu R, Goverse A, Petrescu AJMartin EC et al . "LRRpredictor-A New LRR Motif Detection Method for Irregular Motifs of Plant NLR Proteins Using an Ensemble of Classifiers", Genes (Basel) 11(3): 286, (2020)
IF: 3.33
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Tacutu R, Thornton D, Johnson E, Budovsky A, Barardo D, Craig T, Diana E, Lehmann G, Toren D, Wang J, Fraifeld VE, de Magalhães JPTacutu R et al . "Human Ageing Genomic Resources: new and updated databases", Nucleic acids research 46(D1): D1083-D1090, (2018)
IF: 11.15AI: 4.48
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Yanai H, Budovsky A, Barzilay T, Tacutu R, Fraifeld VEYanai H et al . "Wide-scale comparative analysis of longevity genes and interventions", Aging cell 16(6): 1267-1275, (2017)
IF: 7.63AI: 2.30
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de Magalhães JP, Lagger C, Tacutu Rde Magalhães JP et al . "Integrative Genomics of Aging", pp 151-171, Handbook of the Biology of Aging, Academic Press, Elsevier, (2021).
ISBN: 978-0-12-815962-0
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Tacutu R, Toren D, Ursu E, Bunu G, Bucaciuc Mracica TTacutu R et al . "Healthy Biological Systems", pp 53-78, Explaining Health Across the Sciences, Springer, Cham, (2020).
ISBN: 978-3-030-52662-7
Gerontomics: Multi-omics prediction system for prioritization of gerontological interventions
2016-2021
Acronym: Gerontomics
Project director: Robi Tacutu
Starting 02.09.2016, the Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy is implementing the project “Multi-omics prediction system for prioritization of gerontological interventions”, co-funded through European Fund for Regional Development, in accordance with the funding contract signed by the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research. The total funding for the project is 8.524.757,50 lei, of which 8.502.557,50 lei represent non-reimbursable funding. The project’s duration is 48 months.
Microsoft Azure Research
2017-2018
Acronym: ML for Aging Research
Project director: Robi Tacutu
The Systems Biology of Aging team is grateful for the "Microsoft Azure for Research" sponsorship awarded to our group. We have received cloud computing resources worth the equivalent of 20,000$ credits, and this has greatly helped us to speed up some of our research projects.
Gene Transcriptional Signatures in Healthy Ageing and Related Pathologies
2020-2022
Acronym: GeT-SHARP
Budget: 431,900 RON
Project director: Robi Tacutu
The project aims to analyze and compare the age-related transcriptomics signatures in variuos tisues, both in healthy and pathological individuals, in order to identify shared or unique aging signature that drive aging or age-related diseases.
Automated Nematode Screening for Neurodegenerative Diseases
2020-2022
Acronym: ANS-ND
Budget: 600,000 RON
Project director: Robi Tacutu
The project aims to experimentally develop an integrated and automated solution for screening drugs and genetic interventions for neurodegenerative diseases, using the nematode C. elegans and ageing-related data.