Biological and Health Systems

This research area uses network science to study the complex interconnections within biological systems and their far-reaching impact on human health, from subcellular and genomic interactions to population-level phenomena. By integrating tools from network science, computational modeling, artificial intelligence, behavioral analytics, and medicine, our cross-disciplinary approach generates insights that directly inform disease control strategies, health system decision-making, policy guidance, and personalized medicine. This positions us at the forefront of efforts to understand how biological interdependencies shape human health outcomes and to address some of the most pressing health challenges in public health today.

Our focus

Population Health

Network Neuroscience

Network Medicine

Food Science

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Featured projects

Project website

Decoding the Foodome

The Foodome project maps food's complete chemical composition beyond standard nutrients, documenting 139,000+ molecules in foods. Using network medicine and AI, researchers predict how food molecules interact with human proteins, revealing therapeutic mechanisms and enabling personalized nutrition strategies. The Foodome study, initiated in 2011, now comprises the patent protected Foodome Platform, a machine learning system for determining associations between foods and diseases for an individual.

Wastewater surveillance system

Airports both spread and help detect infectious diseases. This study uses our GLEAM model to evaluate global aircraft wastewater surveillance networks (WWSNs), where sentinel airports collect wastewater from incoming international flights to detect pathogens and guide early responses.

RUNES: Reconstruction and Unification of Neural and Ecological Systems

Funded by the European Research Council (ERC) grant, this project advances a new paradigm in network science exploring how higher-order interactions influence complex systems, deepening our understanding of both neural and societal systems.