Systems Biology in Drug Discovery

Systems biology aims to describe and to understand the operation of complex biological systems with the goal of developing predictive models of human disease. The most powerful systems biology approaches would ideally integrate information from (1) large datasets of gene, protein, and metabolite measurement ("omics" data), (2) complex cell- and tissue-level in vitro models of the disease process, and (3) in silico computer simulations that integrate information flow from the pathway to organism levels. Systems biology provides a framework for understanding biological processes and more rationally identifying points of intervention for therapeutics. While fully integrated models of human disease are still a distant goal, simplified systems biology efforts can (and are beginning to) have an enormous impact on both our understanding of disease and the success of the drug discovery process