Systems Biology: Between Science and Application

18.01.2011 - 19.01.2011, Frankfurt am Main

Ten years after its advent, systems biology has found its place in the concert of life sciences. Whenever research projects or industrial developments involve complex biochemical networks of many interacting components, there is - by definition - no alternative to systems biology approaches. This holds for instance for industrial bio-technology, synthetic biology, crop science, and biomedical research.

Systems biology is a complex endeavor. Typical projects involve research teams from various scientific disciplines using different methods and operating a rapidly evolving measurement equipment. Project partners, thus, have to establish a common language and infrastructure. An urgent - but essentially non-scientific - goal is to improve the efficiency of systems biology projects.

The central aim of the workshop is to demonstrate how systems biology projects yield new results by

integrating expertise from diverse scientific areas,
generating knowledge in a cycle of modeling and experimentation,
supporting concrete industrial developments

Scientific results from ongoing systems biology projects will be presented. Additionally, by taking these projects as examples the workshop will also give answers to the following central questions dealing with the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of systems biology projects:

Systems Biology at the interface between scientific disciplines

Where is the added value of systems biology projects compared to the classical approaches to biological research?
How to improve communication between the scientific disciplines involved in system biology projects?
How to educate students for systems biology?

Systems Biology at the interface between modeling and experimentation

How to find the right questions and a proper level of complexity?
How to produce consistent and informative data sets for modeling?
How to organize accumulate data in the context of an iterative cycle of modeling and experimentation?
How to deal with rapidly changing knowledge and experimental equipment?

Systems Biology at the interface between academia and industry

How and where are systems biology approaches established in industry?
How to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer to industry by establishing protocols, tools and standards?
How to synchronize the long term horizons of academic research with the business-driven short term demands of industry?
How to train industry people for the demands of a new discipline?

In cooperation with:

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