title: Systems biology: will it work?
abstract: Systems biology describes the collection of a set of measurements on a system, integrated with a mathematical model of that system. The model and the measurements must be made together and refined iteratively, requiring close collaboration between biologists and modellers. A complete cell is probably too large and complicated to model yet, but simplified subsystems will probably produce valuable results. I consider various ways of simplifying the system and conclude that the biggest challenge is to get everyone working together productively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK. m.williamson@sheffield.ac.uk
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Williamson
mesh_terms: D008954:Models, Biological; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000639:trends*