![Systems Biology:The Challenge of Complexity]()
Biological signaling pathways dynamically interact with one another to form complex
information networks intracellularly, intercellularly, and eventually at the level of
the organism. Biology and medicine have conventionally focused on identification
and characterization of functional elements in biological signaling pathways.
Recently, research in this field has been pursuing a new approach, systems biology,
to understand the dynamics, complexity, and physiological functions of the biological
signaling networks. Instead of reductionistic analyses or large-scale studies of
biomolecules piece by piece, systems biology emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary
methods and analysis of the regulation and operation of information networks
at the systems level.
The Uehara Memorial Symposium 2008, entitled “Systems Biology: The
Challenge of Complexity,” was convened in Tokyo from June 30 to July 2, 2008.
The aim of the symposium was to bring together leading scientists in the field of
systems biology to discuss the latest research on function and dysfunction of biological
networks. The following are the main topics addressed in the symposium:
1. Dynamics and complexity of intercellular networks
2. Integrative mechanism of intracellular information networks
3. Dysfunction of information networks and related diseases
An explicit aim of the symposium was to contribute to an understanding of the
complexity and dynamics of biological systems and to direct our efforts toward the
development of novel strategies for disease control.
We are very pleased to be able to publish the proceedings of this exciting
symposium.
Osaka, Japan Shigetada Nakanishi, Editor |