Figure 1.

The Systems Biology Paradigm. Systems Biology focuses on an iterative cycle of experiments. In model system (a) mouse is infected. (b) Measurements of molecular (e.g. whole transcriptome, proteome) and disease related phenotypes (histopathology and flow cytometry) are taken at multiple timepoints and contrasted with mock infected animals. (c) Transcriptional (or proteomic) data are assembled into networks of interacting and coexpressed transcripts. These networks are then correlated back to specific disease pathologies. These data are then fed into new sets of experiments where key members of networks (e.g. the blue gene central to the network) are then disrupted to alter pathologic outcomes in a predicted manner.