Systematic

SYSTEMATIC is the first book to introduce general readers to systems biology, which is revolutionizing medical research and treatments. In traditional bottom-up biology, a biologist might spend years studying how a single protein works. Systems biology focuses on the “big picture”--studying how the surrounding biological network or system affects the protein’s function.

This breakthrough became possible only when powerful computer technology enabled researchers to process massive data to study complete systems, and has led to progress in the study of gene regulation and inheritance, cancer drugs personalized to an individual’s genetically unique tumor, cancer vaccines, and the discovery that transplanting cells from the gut of a malnourished person into his well-nourished twin’s intestinal system causes the healthy person to become malnourished regardless of how well or how much he eats. Similarly, cells transplanted from an obese person can cause the slender host’s metabolism to switch toward obesity without changing her diet or activity level. Much of what we have taken for granted is being revised by systems biology.

Research biologist Jim Valcourt gives readers an animated and in-depth guided tour of how systems biology is having a major impact on science and medicine.