Multi-levelness as the Final Frontier for the Life Sciences
Prof. Olaf Wolkenhauer, Dept. of Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, University of Rostock, 18051 Rostock, Germany
Abstract
Systems medicine, which implements a systems biology approach in medical research, is not a new discipline but an area of research that pursues an interdisciplinary approach by which biomedical questions are addressed through integrating experiments in iterative cycles with mathematical modeling, computer simulation and theory. The objective of systems medicine is to study how biological function, the pathophysiology of a tissue or organ, emerges from molecular interactions within and between cells. Understanding biological systems across multiple levels of structural and functional organization is arguably the fundamental problem of systems medicine. An analysis of the practice in biomedical research reveals that although much has been learned about molecular components and subcellular processes, the integration of data and models across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales remains unchartered territory. Multi-levelness is a hallmark of biological complexity and, in my view, the final frontier of and the greatest hurdle for progress in systems medicine. I will argue that new ideas for mathematical modeling are needed. My argument is however not one for a new theory but, rather, for a change of perspective that is less gene, pathway and cell-centric and instead puts the search for organizing principles back into the spotlight that guides our experiments.
Biography
Olaf Wolkenhauer is Professor of Systems Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Rostock. His undergraduate degrees (Dipl. Ing and B.Eng) were in control engineering from the University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg and Portsmouth University and his PhD was obtained in 1997 from UMIST. He was a senior lecturer in the Department of Biomolecular Sciences and the Department of Electrical Engineering at UMIST, following which he became a Professor in Systems Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Rostock. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, from 2004. He was a visiting Professor in the Department of Mathematics, University of Manchester from 2003-2006. Professor Wolkenhauer’s research combines mathematical modelling at multiple levels in a variety of cellular biology and physiological/medical contexts, along with the development and use of systems theory and systems methodologies to tackle challenges in the elucidation and understanding of biological phenomena. He is a co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Systems Biology and a founding editor of the journal IET Systems Biology.