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Systems biology

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An illustration of the systems approach to biology

Systems biology is a field of biology. It uses computers, math, and models to study how parts of living systems work together. It does not focus on individual parts like in traditional biology. It looks at the whole system and how everything interacts.[1]

Since around 2000, systems biology has become common in biology. For example, the Human Genome Project used systems thinking. It encouraged teamwork in genetics research. One major goal of systems biology is to understand "emergent properties". These are features of cells or organisms that only show up when you look at how all the parts work together.[1][2]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Tavassoly, Iman; Goldfarb, Joseph; Iyengar, Ravi (2018-10-26). "Systems biology primer: the basic methods and approaches". Essays in Biochemistry. 62 (4): 487–500. doi:10.1042/EBC20180003. ISSN 0071-1365.
  2. Longo, Giuseppe; Montévil, Maël (2014). Perspectives on Organisms: Biological time, Symmetries and Singularities. Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-35938-5. ISBN 978-3-642-35937-8.