FibroHealth - Combatting Fibrosis in Chronic Diseases

Fibrosis is a major pathologic process in several chronic diseases. It is estimated to contribute to nearly half of the mortality in western countries. Fibrosis is a scarring process where functional tissue is replaced by excess extracellular matrix leading eventually to organ failure and death.

FibroHealth – Combatting Fibrosis in Chronic diseases (FibroHealth) is one of University of Oulu´s interdisciplinary research fields integrating biomedical and human sciences.

Research themes

FibroHealth strengthens and expands our high-level fibrosis-related research to generate impactful new knowledge of the molecular, epidemiological, clinical, and behavioral basis of fibrosis in complex chronic diseases and unhealthy aging. The goal of our innovative multidisciplinary ecosystem is to develop novel effective preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic options to combat fibrotic diseases and associated adverse societal outcomes.

The FibroHealth research community is wide in several faculties and also cross-links with other profiling themes, especially GenZ, DigiHealth, HiDyn, and 6GESS.

The FibroHealth theme covers the currently ongoing research programme Fibrobesity – Preventing Fibrosis Related to Obesity (Profi6) and the already finished research programme Fibrosis Diseasome (Profi3).

Fibrobesity – Preventing Fibrosis Related to Obesity

Fibrosis Diseasome

Fibrosis Diseasome was a profiling theme (Profi3) of the University of Oulu's strategic research focus area “Molecular and environmental basis for lifelong health”. This project was a continuum of 50 years of strong ECM-related research at the University of Oulu. Fibrosis Diseasome addressed fibrosis as a risk factor in the etiology of complex chronic diseases and unhealthy aging. The research programme ended in 2022. Currently, an ongoing research programme under the same thematic lines is Fibrobesity - Preventing Fibrosis Related to Obesity.

The Fibrosis Diseasome research programme included the research input of over 30 principal investigators in the Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Humanities, and Oulu University Hospital. The theme was supported by the strategic research organization Medical Research Center Oulu and focus institutes Biocenter Oulu and Eudaimonia.

The general aims of Fibrosis Diseasome were to facilitate

personalized medicine according to fibrosis risk,
health promotion and recommendations to prevent fibrosis, and
economic growth in diagnostics, drug development, and eHealth supporting treatment and prevention of fibrosis.

The specific objectives were to

establish the genetic architecture and molecular pathways underpinning fibrosis and specify the causal pathways to fibrosis,
characterize and understand the interaction between genetic and modifiable risk factors of fibrosis and its underlying preclinical phenotypes,
establish biomarkers (proteomics, metabolomics) and clinical measures of fibrosis,
provide novel technical solutions to monitor fibrosis, and
examine the potential socio-cultural factors involved in fibrotic disorders and provide guidelines for improving well-being.

You can learn more about fibrosis research at the University of Oulu from the Fibrosis research video (duration 5 minutes).