What Is "Systems Biology?"

It's an interesting question. One of our departments here at the University of Toronto just renamed itself Cell and Systems Biology so you'd think they would know what "systems biology" is, wouldn't you?

Well, they don't. And neither do I. And neither, as it turns out, does Michael White over at Adaptive Complexity. Read his posting: Is Systems Biology Teaching Us Anything New?. Here's a teaser,

What I find most exciting about basic molecular biology today is the prospect of building a quantitative understanding of how a cell works. Many other scientists are excited about this as well, leading to the current popularity of what's being called 'systems biology.' The idea is that maybe we can understand the design principles behind a cellular process - how the behavior of a cell emerges from all of those detailed physical interactions among proteins, nucleic acids and other components of the cell. If that sounds vague to you, well, that's because it is vague. It's a nice sentiment, but I think biologists still have a hard time defining just what it is we want to learn.