Systems Biology: Science or Technoscience?

Abstract

“One major thesis I already gathered from the accumulated material is that systems biology as a (techno)epistemic culture shares a lot of its characteristics with other contemporary Big Science research approaches such as modern brain research instead of gaining its identity solely from (a linear advancement of) its historical forerunners. In other words, when looking at its cultural traits, systems biology is firstly characterized as a contemporary Big Science endeavor and only secondly as relating to a molecular biology tradition. When looking at the various subcommunities within systems biology and the interplay of systems and synthetic biology, the picture of course becomes more complex. These observations also raise the question what kind of category ‘systems biology’ represents: a discipline, an inter-discipline, a sub-discipline, a research approach or a new paradigm?”.