Systems Biology Modeling Practices: Reflections of a Philosopher-Ethnographer

Abstract

“The nature of the problems being formulated and addressed by systems biology creates interdependence among researchers in engineering, applied mathematics, computing, and biosciences. In this context, the prefix “trans” signifies that this enterprise seeps into, penetrates, specific prior practices of the mother fields and opens an emergent problem space with multiple possibilities for interaction and integration. I have characterized the problem space of systems biology as an adaptive problem space in that, as with the systems it investigates, adaptation of the researchers is a process of continually revising and reconfiguring knowledge, methods, and so forth as they learn and gain experience. Research in adaptive problem spaces is driven by complex interdisciplinary problems, and these require that the individuals themselves achieve a measure of hybridization in methods, concepts, models, materials – in how they think and how they act.”.