Systems Biology

[science_spot]

One of the newer fields of biology is Systems Biology.  This interdisciplinary field has really opened up in the past decade.  The idea of Systems Biology is to use the whole picture surrounding the topic studied, rathering than reducing it to its individual parts.  As I wrote about previously, each field of science does not stand alone in the world around us, but rather interconnects with every other field. It is this series of connections that are highlighted in systems biology.  Systems Biology puts together all the pieces to study the whole, rather than taking the pieces apart to study the pieces.

As genomics studies and bioinformatics have been providing huge amounts of data in the recent decade, systems biology has been growing quickly.  Some instututes have been developed specifically for Systems Biology, and specific training programs have been initiated in order to bring forth a greater number of scientists prepared to study this "new field" in the near future.  Many researchers at The Institute for Systems Biology currently are currently working on Swine Flu research. 

Systems Biology brings together data from a variety of complex sources, in order to study it as a whole.  The sources of such data includes, but is not limited to: gene expression profiles, proteomic information (identit and interactions), small molecule and carbohydrate studies from within individual cells and the organism as a whole.  Often Systems Biology studies includes building a model that shows how the pieces come together to form a complex system.  There are already individual branches from Systems Biology, such as Dynamic Systems Biology and Integrative Systems Biology.

If you would like to read more about Systems Biology and recent research, there are two open-access journals specializing in this field:  BMC Systems Biology and Molecular Systems Biology.

 

Tonya

AKA sunmoonstars

The Science Spot

 

 

[Momforhealth]

May. 28, 2009 at 1:53 PM

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1752-0509/3/46 I wish I could understand all of it.  But the part on neuropsychiatric cluster was interesting.  It seems as if this would not be new to science.

[evwsquared]

May. 28, 2009 at 6:30 PM

Systems biology has been a little difficult for me to understand. I understand that it is the study of all of the components that make up an organism at the same time, rather than each component on its own. I guess that I'm a bit dubious about how someone could have the proper expertise to do understand "the interplays of different hierarchies of biological information DNA, RNA, proteins, macromolecular complexes, signaling networks, cells, organs, organisms, species within their environmental contexts (among other topics) will promote conceptual insights and practical innovations that will profoundly transform peoples’ daily lives" (ISB website). Are they trying to create a new type of researcher, or a new way for researchers to work together?

[science_spot]

May. 29, 2009 at 3:51 AM

It's a little of both.  It's a new type of researcher that is trained in many areas, and is trained to look at the big picture.  This person won't realistically have deep knowledge about all the possible topics (biochem, genetics, proteomics, etc), so they will re the 'manager' of a group of specialists.  The specialists will likely have their own research projects, but the systems biologist will use the existing data to go beyond what the specialist had intended when designing his own experiments.

I picture the systems biologist will spend a significant amount of time reviewing data and doing journal-based research, rather than actually working in the lab (but this doesn't hae to always be the case).  Sortof like a manager, bringing the work of many all together.

 

(Original Poster)