Systems biology involves the study of an organism as one single system. Instead of analysing all the individual components that make up a cell, the cell is instead viewed as an interacting network of genes, proteins and biochemical reactions and these are studied as a whole. In 20th century, molecular biology was focused upon. A ‘reductionist’ approach was followed, in which the individual components, such as the cell nucleus or sugar metabolism, were studied in isolation. However, we have progressed to an era where systems biology plays a leading role. A ‘holistic’ approach is followed, the components and their interaction are studied simultaneously. These cellular interactions are ultimately responsible for an organisms form and function. For example, if you look at the human immune system, it’s role is not defined by one single cellular component or mechanism. Instead, it is compromised of numerous genes, proteins, cells and mechanisms which work together to produce a response and fight of pathogens and disease. As science progressed in the past few years, tools and technologies were developed which allowed us to examine the foundations of biological activity-genes and proteins. It was learnt that these fundamental cellular components rarely act alone, either interacting with each other or other complex molecules. The systems approach looks at: The parts that make up the system & How these parts interact Placement of these interactions in terms of space and time i.e. where and when these interactions occur The technologies used for systems biology are high throughput in nature. The ‘omics’ technologies provide information on the parts of the systems. These include genomics (HT DNA sequencing), transcriptomics (gene chips, microarrays), proteomics (MS, 2D-PAGE, protein chips, yeast-2-hybrid) and metabolomics (NMR, X-ray). These technologies are still focused upon today, and the real challenge of systems biology in integration all the ‘omics’…