Systems Biology Digs Deep, Aims High

The Interconnected Systems behind Disease Processes Are Being Unraveled By Systems Biology

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  At Weill Cornell Medical College, the laboratory of Olivier Elemento, Ph.D., combines computational biology and systems biology to identify mechanisms of drug resistance. The laboratory uses ultrafast genome and DNA sequencing, proteomics, high-performance computing, mathematical modeling, and machine learning to characterize regulatory networks.

  Biotechnology, molecular biology, and genetic engineering share a firm foundation—a massive body of knowledge about individual cellular and subcellular components. At the same time, these disciplines are limited in the same way. They can rise only so high before they strain to accommodate whole systems and their emergent behaviors.
  To help the life sciences reach greater heights, biologists have been exploring interdisciplinary efforts. Traditional life science disciplines are being buttressed by engineering and computational and mathematical sciences. The result: a rising edifice called systems biology. It reflects how specific biological problems may be interconnected.
  “We cannot reduce disease to one or two genes. Instead, we need to look at how pathways work together and interact in cells,” says Olivier Elemento, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medical College. “Only by embracing this complexity can we understand disease.”
  Dr. Elemento heads a laboratory that focuses on identifying the cellular targets of small molecules, a task of critical importance for molecular biology, pharmacology, and drug design. However, identifying the targets of small molecules is complicated by several factors, including the ability of some compounds to target multiple proteins.
  “Our strategy,” informs Dr. Elemento, “relies on using a combination of computational biology and systems biology.”
  
  
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