Introduction to Systems Biology

The area of system biology is a combination of experimental large-scale measurement techniques and computational approaches to interrogate, model and understand life at the level of organismal system itself. The applications of system-wide approaches in understanding the factors that affect human health and diseases is opening a novel area with great prospects. In this chapter, the area of system biology has been described with the current status, and its impact on the individual and population. The application of system biology in developing a framework for modelling living systems and diseases is discussed. Further the utility of systems biology in molecular diagnostics, genetic techniques, deletion/duplication analysis, targeted variant analysis, DNA methylation, pathway-based biomarker analysis, gene interaction maps and disease genes identification etc. is described. These current knowledge of significant contribution in the field may stimulate further discussion and debates in other areas in addition to systems biology. In this way, the systems medicine will realize its full potential and promises within societal standards.