Skip Navigation

Briefings in Bioinformatics 2001 2(3):258-270; doi:10.1093/bib/2.3.258
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wolkenhauer, O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wolkenhauer, O.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© Henry Stewart Publications

Special issue papers

Systems biology: The reincarnation of systems theory applied in biology?

Olaf Wolkenhauer
Holds a joint appointment between the Department of Biomolecular Sciences and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics (Control Systems Centre) at UMIST. His research interests include mathematical modelling and identification of dynamic systems with particular consideration of uncertainty in modelling, data and prediction.


Olaf Wolkenhauer, Department of Biomolecular Sciences and Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Control Systems Centre, UMIST, Manchester M60 1QD, UK Tel/Fax: +44 (0)161 200 4672 E-mail: o.wolkenhauer{at}umist.ac.uk

With the availability of quantitative data on the transcriptome and proteome level, there is an increasing interest in formal mathematical models of gene expression and regulation. International conferences, research institutes and research groups concerned with systems biology have appeared in recent years and systems theory, the study of organisation and behaviour per se, is indeed a natural conceptual framework for such a task. This is, however, not the first time that systems theory has been applied in modelling cellular processes. Notably in the 1960s systems theory and biology enjoyed considerable interest among eminent scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Why did these early attempts vanish from research agendas? Here we shall review the domain of systems theory, its application to biology and the lessons that can be learned from the work of Robert Rosen. Rosen emerged from the early developments in the 1960s as a main critic but also developed a new alternative perspective to living systems, a concept that deserves a fresh look in the post-genome era of bioinformatics.

Keywords: genomics, systems biology, causality, relational biology, (M,R)-systems, linear systems theory


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
R. G. Winther
Systemic Darwinism
PNAS, August 19, 2008; 105(33): 11833 - 11838.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Brief BioinformHome page
N. A.W. van Riel
Dynamic modelling and analysis of biochemical networks: mechanism-based models and model-based experiments
Brief Bioinform, December 1, 2006; 7(4): 364 - 374.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Genome ResHome page
K.-H. Cho, S.-Y. Shin, H.-W. Lee, and O. Wolkenhauer
Investigations Into the Analysis and Modeling of the TNF{alpha}-Mediated NF-{kappa}B-Signaling Pathway
Genome Res., November 1, 2003; 13(11): 2413 - 2422.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.