Titel Deelnemers "Korte inhoud" "Une biologie clandestine ? Le projet d'un spinozisme biologique chez Diderot" "Charles Wolfe" "Je traiterai de l’« hétérodoxie » de la construction biologique chez Diderot : de sa construction conceptuelle du vivant qui serait l’équivalent « clandestin » d’une contribution à la biologie. Mais justement en tant que c’est une forme clandestine de la biologie, elle ne se laisse pas transformer en épisode appartenant à un récit, progressif, linéaire ou non, de l’histoire de la science du vivant. Le matérialisme d’inspiration clandestine de Diderot, tel qu’il apparait par exemple dans l’article « Spinosiste » de l’Encyclopédie, n’est ni une métaphysique chimique ou chimiatrique à la Stahl, ni, dans l’attention qu’il porte au vivant, une contribution à la biologie comme chez Maupertuis ou Lamarck." "Evolution of patient characteristics in the era of biologic treatment of psoriatic arthritis: 18-year Belgian experience from the Leuven Spondyloarthritis Biologics Cohort (BioSPAR)" "Alla Ishchenko, Barbara Neerinckx, Rik Lories, Kurt De Vlam" "OBJECTIVES: Biologic treatments have revolutionized the management of PsA by significantly improving clinical manifestations and preventing structural damage. Both result in better quality of life and improved physical functioning. Since the introduction of the first TNF inhibitor (TNFi) in the early 2000s, therapeutic options for PsA are increasing steadily, and a new generation of biologics, including anti-IL-17 and anti-IL-23 strategies, allows distinct targeted approaches. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the demographic, clinical and disease characteristics of PsA patients who are selected for first-line biologic treatment has changed over time since the introduction of biologics. METHODS: Patients with a clinical diagnosis of PsA were included in the KU Leuven BioSPAR registry, a prospective cohort of SpA and PsA patients treated with biologics and targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs), such as apremilast and Janus kinase inhibitors. Demographics, prior DMARD use, disease characteristics and disease activity parameters were recorded at the initiation of biologic treatment and subsequently every 3 months for the first 2 years and later every 6 months. The patient data were compared in three treatment periods, corresponding to availability of the first and second generation of TNFi and the third generation of biologics. RESULTS: Analysis of 185 Caucasian patients with PsA from our prospective cohort showed longer disease duration and higher disease activity, with higher tender joint count, swollen joint count and CRP in the first period compared with the later time periods. The demographic characteristics and prior DMARD use did not change over time. Skin and nail psoriasis were more frequent in earlier compared with the later treatment periods. The bio-DMARD survival rate was similar in the early and later treatment periods. CONCLUSION: The population of patients selected for treatment escalation has changed over time since the introduction of biologics. Our results suggest that with years of experience, PsA patients might be considered earlier and for therapy intensification in patients with less active disease in comparison to profiles in the early days of biologic treatment." "The British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Registers in Ankylosing Spondylitis (BSRBR-AS) study: Protocol for a prospective cohort study of the long-term safety and quality of life outcomes of biologic treatment" "Elizabeth Jones" "Highlights from the 5(th) International Society for Computational Biology Student Council Symposium at the 17(th) Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology and the 8(th) European Conference on Computational Biology: intr" "Thomas Abeel, Jeroen de Ridder, Lucia Peixoto" "This meeting report gives an overview of the keynote lectures and a selection of the student presentations at the 5(th) International Society for Computational Biology Student Council Symposium at the 17(th) Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) and the 8(th) European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB). The symposium was held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 27 to July 2, 2009. We also report on other Student Council events that were organized at ISMB/ECCB 2009." "Modelling in systems biology: an analysis of the relevance of Rosen's relational viewpoint for current systems biology" "Joris Van Poucke" "Systems Biology aims to take up the challenge of the post-genome era by developing means to handle the data flood in the contemporary U+2018omicU+2019 sciences. One of the challenges is to U+2018turn data into knowledgeU+2019, which gives rise to the question of the functional meaning of the structural data. Systems Biology tries to answer this question by capturing the organisation of a biological system through mathematical and computational modelling. In this regard, however, there is some ambiguity concerning the notions of function, wholeness and system. In this paper, we intend to discuss this ambiguity by analysing the status of modelling in Systems Biology. We do so by articulating the source of the tensions between a relational and a mechanistic approach of living systems, and will inquire upon the potential relevance of a relational account for current Systems Biology. We draw upon Robert Rosen's relational account, in which functionality is an intrinsic and essential part of the organisation of a living system. An organism is complex, e.g. not amenable to a mechanistic, classical or engineering analysis. In this viewpoint, which is quite similar to Kant's, functionality has to be presupposed in order to U+2018saveU+2019 the organism as a living system. It is the status of this presupposition that qualitatively distinguishes a mechanistic from a relational account, and it is the potentiality of that idea which deserves further investigation in current Systems Biology." "Ins and outs of systems biology vis-à-vis molecular biology: continuation or clear cut?" "Philippe De Backer, Danny De Waele, Linda Van Speybroeck" "Dreaming of a Universal Biology: Synthetic Biology and the Origins of Life" "Massimiliano Simons" "Synthetic biology aims to synthesize novel biological systems or re design existing ones. The field has raised numerous philosophical questions, but most especially what is novel to this field. In this article I argue for a novel take, since the dominant ways to understand synthetic biology’s specificity each face problems. Inspired by the examination of the work of a number of chemists, I argue that synthetic biology differentiates itself by a new regime of articulation, i.e. a new way of articulating the questions and phenomena it wants to address. Instead of describing actual existing biological systems, the field aims to describe biological possibilities. In the second part I corroborate this hypothesis through a comparison between early research in the field of the origins of life and contemporary synthetic biologists, who are not so much interested in the historical origin of life on Earth, but rather in a universal bi ology of the possible origins of any life whatsoever." "Signaling pathways effecting crosstalk between cartilage and adjacent tissues: Seminars in cell and developmental biology: The biology and pathology of cartilage" "Christa Maes" "Endochondral ossification, the mechanism responsible for the development of the long bones, is dependent on an extremely stringent coordination between the processes of chondrocyte maturation in the growth plate, vascular expansion in the surrounding tissues, and osteoblast differentiation and osteogenesis in the perichondrium and the developing bone center. The synchronization of these processes occurring in adjacent tissues is regulated through vigorous crosstalk between chondrocytes, endothelial cells and osteoblast lineage cells. Our knowledge about the molecular constituents of these bidirectional communications is undoubtedly incomplete, but certainly some signaling pathways effective in cartilage have been recognized to play key roles in steering vascularization and osteogenesis in the perichondrial tissues. These include hypoxia-driven signaling pathways, governed by the hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which are absolutely essential for the survival and functioning of chondrocytes in the avascular growth plate, at least in part by regulating the oxygenation of developing cartilage through the stimulation of angiogenesis in the surrounding tissues. A second coordinating signal emanating from cartilage and regulating developmental processes in the adjacent perichondrium is Indian Hedgehog (IHH). IHH, produced by pre-hypertrophic and early hypertrophic chondrocytes in the growth plate, induces the differentiation of adjacent perichondrial progenitor cells into osteoblasts, thereby harmonizing the site and time of bone formation with the developmental progression of chondrogenesis. Both signaling pathways represent vital mediators of the tightly organized conversion of avascular cartilage into vascularized and mineralized bone during endochondral ossification." "Onderzoekscompetent in de klas : praktische gids voor de vakken biologie, chemie en fysica in het secundair onderwijs" "Katrien Strubbe, John De Poorter" "Fascinerend leven : markante figuren en ideeën uit de geschiedenis van de biologie"