Print FriendlySystems Biology
The complexity of even a single cell can be overwhelming. To break down the Herculean task, traditional biologists reduced biological systems into individual components and studied them gene by gene, protein by protein. But analyzing single cells or aspects of an organism will not reveal how the human body functions as a whole.
Scientists can only hope to understand the fundamental working principles of life by studying the interactions of all the parts that comprise a whole organism. Their growing understanding of how genes and proteins work enables scientists at the Salk Institute to take an increasingly global approach to addressing biological questions. This will lead to rapid advances in understanding disease-causing alterations in the molecular networks underlying metabolic, physiological and behavioral processes.
The Systems Biology Initiative Will:
- Address various complexities in health and disease that cannot be explained by the action of a single gene, but rather are presumed to be a function of an ensemble of genes, such as in diabetes and certain types of cancer.
- Integrate genome-scale information with more traditional experimental biological research with the help of mathematical and computational methods that will let scientists dive deeper in the regulatory networks that govern the behavior of the basic unit of life – the cell.
- Delineate more complex biological phenomena, including cell division, differentiation, organogenesis, organ function, and the behavior of whole organisms under normal conditions and during progression toward disease or old age.
- Allow scientists at Salk to move beyond the description of biological systems toward prediction and control. Being able to scrutinize and understand the implications of small variations in an individual's genetic make-up will bring personalized, preventive medicine a step closer to reality.
Your Gifts to the Systems Biology Initiative Support:
- The establishment of a bioinformatics core to build up Salk's computational capabilities and expertise, and a central handling facility to manage all cell-based screens and maintain compound and DNA libraries.
- Existing labs that are already employing or are willing to take systems biological approaches to address biological questions.
- Acquisition of state-of-the-art proteomics tools.
For information on how to contribute to this initiative, contact:
Rebecca Newman
Vice President, Development and Communications
858-453-4100 x1454
e-mail: rnewman@salk.edu.