A View on Systems Biology Beyond Scale and Method

Abstract

“In times when we are flooded with information, in biology and elsewhere, it might be more important than ever to reflect upon the ways by which we acquire and organize information in order to expand current knowledge. Long decades of scientific research have produced so many thoughts and concepts and open questions, many of which can only now be adequately addressed, with the techniques to acquire large scale experimental data at many different levels of biological organization, from nucleic acid to morphology. How current insights can be used to generate a framework concept, and how such framework plus current technology can be used to access what is not yet known is not just of philosophical concern, but of crucial importance for the ability of systems biology approaches to contribute to the solution of some of the long-standing questions in biology, and to formulate new ideas and concepts.”