With the completion of the human genome project, followed by the rise in high-throughput technologies like the various microarray and now high throughput genomic sequencing platforms,weexperiencedthebirthofSystemsBiologyafteritslonggestation. Thisrevolutionis markedbyachangeintheresearchparadigmfromthesinglesmall-scaleexperiment,i. e. ,following thechangeofacomponentinamulticomponentsystem,toonethatattemptstosimultaneously monitorthechangeoftensofthousandsofmoleculeswithinthisbody. Thisclearlynecessitatesthe unparalleleduseofproject-specificinformatictools,which,todate,requiresanunprecedentedlevel ofdevelopmenttocollect,manageandminethedataforinterestingassociations. Tobegintounderstandthisinformationwenowrelyonstatisticalanalysistoaidinourselection ofthefruitfromthetree. However,thisoftentakesusonajourneyintoanewfieldforwhichweare notyetprepared. SamuelJohnson(1709-1784)foreshadowedthedilemmawewouldfaceand characterizeditasfollows:Knowledgeisoftwokinds. Weknowasubjectourselves,orweknow wherewecanfindinformationonit. Itisforthelatterthatweroutinelyturntotheliterature. The rateofgrowthoftheliteratureparallelsthatofsequencingdataandthearraydataplacingan almostimpossibletaskbeforeeachinvestigator. Topartiallyeasethisburdenweareagainturning towardsdevelopinginformaticaidsthatminetheliteratureanddatatodevelopsummariesand associationstodirectlyaddressthequestionsposedandthenewhypothesesthataretobetested. Althoughmoreclearlyarticulated,weagainfacesimilarchallengesasthosetackledduringthe courseofthehumangenomeproject. Itisessentialthatthetrainingofthebiologistandcomput- scientistoccurinaninterdisciplinaryenvironmentofcross-fertilization. Withthisgoalinmindthe textbookBioinformaticsforSystemsBiologywasundertaken.
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