La biologia de sistemes: la biologia del segle XXI?

Systems biology: The biology of the XXI century? At the end of the 20th century a new world emerged in science, systems biology. This
term that many consider a buzzword is now well established in the scientific community
and we even have several institutes or departments in Europe and the United States bearing
this name. However, scientists remain in a quandary about defining Systems Biology.
Definitions range from collections of physiological data with quantified molecular parts
lists (e.g. genes, expression levels, localizations) to abstract mathematical modelling of
biological processes. The scale at which Systems Biology focuses is also a matter of contention:
a tiny protein can be a complicated biological system (we still do not know how it
folds) as is obviously an entire ecosystem with thousands of species. The term «Systems
Biology» will probably broaden its meaning even further as it is now under the limelight
and funding opportunities have to be taken seriously by very diverse scientific communities.
In principle Systems Biology offers an opportunity to understand biological
processes in a way in which we could modify and engineer them in a rational manner
(Synthetic Biology). Systems Biology is here to stay and will open the way to new therapies,
individualized medicine and, in combination with synthetic biology, to the rational
engineering of living systems.