Systems biologists seek fuller integration of systems biology approaches in new cancer research programs.
Systems biology takes an interdisciplinary approach to the systematic study of complex interactions in biological systems. This approach seeks to decipher the emergent behaviors of complex systems rather than focusing only on their constituent properties. As an increasing number of examples illustrate the value of systems biology approaches to understand the initiation, progression, and treatment of cancer, systems biologists from across Europe and the United States hope for changes in the way their field is currently perceived among cancer researchers. In a recent EU-US workshop, supported by the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, and the National Cancer Institute of the NIH, the participants discussed the strengths, weaknesses, hurdles, and opportunities in cancer systems biology.
Wolkenhauer
Olaf
O
University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany. olaf.wolkenhauer@uni-rostock.de
Auffray
Charles
C
Baltrusch
Simone
S
Blüthgen
Nils
N
Byrne
Helen
H
Cascante
Marta
M
Ciliberto
Andrea
A
Dale
Trevor
T
Drasdo
Dirk
D
Fell
David
D
Ferrell
James E
JE
Gallahan
Daniel
D
Gatenby
Robert
R
Günther
Ulrich
U
Harms
Brian D
BD
Herzel
Hanspeter
H
Junghanss
Christian
C
Kunz
Manfred
M
van Leeuwen
Ingeborg
I
Lenormand
Philippe
P
Levi
Francis
F
Linnebacher
Michael
M
Lowengrub
John
J
Maini
Philip K
PK
Malik
Arif
A
Rateitschak
Katja
K
Sansom
Owen
O
Schäfer
Reinhold
R
Schürrle
Karsten
K
Sers
Christine
C
Schnell
Santiago
S
Shibata
Darryl
D
Tyson
John
J
Vera
Julio
J
White
Michael
M
Zhivotovsky
Boris
B
Jaster
Robert
R
D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms; D049490:Systems Biology