Department of Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Rostock, Germany; Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
FEBS J. 2013 Dec;280(23):5938-48. doi: 10.1111/febs.12311. Epub 2013 May 24.
Biological complexity has forced scientists to develop highly reductive approaches, with an ever-increasing degree of specialization. As a consequence, research projects have become fragmented, and their results strongly dependent on the experimental context. The general research question, that originally motivated these projects, appears to have been forgotten in many highly specialized research programmes. We here investigate the prospects for use of an old regulative ideal from systems theory to describe the organization of cellular systems 'in general' by identifying key concepts, challenges and strategies to pursue the search for organizing principles. We argue that there is no tension between the complexity of biological systems and the search for organizing principles. On the contrary, it is the complexity of organisms and the current level of techniques and knowledge that urge us to renew the search for organizing principles in order to meet the challenges that are arise from reductive approaches in systems medicine. Reductive approaches, as important and inevitable as they are, should be complemented by an integrative strategy that de-contextualizes through abstractions, and thereby generalizes results.
生物复杂性迫使科学家采用高度简化的方法，专业化程度不断提高。结果，研究项目变得碎片化，其结果强烈依赖于实验背景。最初推动这些项目的一般研究问题，在许多高度专业化的研究计划中似乎已经被遗忘。我们在这里调查了使用系统理论中的一个旧调节理想来描述细胞系统“一般”组织的前景，方法是确定识别关键概念、挑战和策略，以寻求组织原则。我们认为，生物系统的复杂性与寻找组织原则之间没有矛盾。相反，正是生物体的复杂性以及当前技术和知识的水平促使我们更新寻找组织原则的研究，以应对系统医学中简化方法带来的挑战。简化方法虽然重要且不可避免，但应辅以整合策略，通过抽象去语境化，从而推广结果。
