The hype that greeted the development of systems biology was followed by inevitable disappointment. But in reality, much groundwork has been done and tangible progress is expected. In a Nature Commentary (Nature 455, 730-731; 9 October 2008), Adriano Henney and Giulio Superti-Furga broaden a debate that began at a recent workshop in Portofino, Italy, on the application of systems biology to drug discovery by inviting readers to contribute their ideas. Delegates at Portofino drew up ‘roadmaps’ for three areas: metabolic disorders; cancer; and inflammation and infectious diseases — and are developing them as live documents to monitor progress. To comment on the article and related documents, visit the Nature Network forum ‘Applying systems biology to benefit human health’.
At the Nature Network forum, Superti-Furga writes about the group’s frustration about the scepticism within institutions, biopharmaceutical companies and funding agencies regarding the usefulness of systems approaches to medicine and in particular in drug discovery. Mindful of the danger of encouraging a climate of unrealistic expectations and delusions, “with genomics-like anticlimactic conservatism as consequence”, Superti-Furga and colleagues have initiated a community-wide research roadmap proposal. “The purpose is to define the areas worth focusing on to obtain the facts that are needed as proof of concept for the entire community. In a careful process, we have engaged some of you first in interviews, then with on-line questionnaires and finally with a meeting restricted to 25 people that occurred in May (in Portofino, Italy). The outcome of the meeting is summarized in a Commentary that just appeared in Nature (enclosed). So far it has not been practical to engage all of you directly but we now need your help as we are preparing a white paper that covers much more ground of the Portofino discussions and following that measures for implementation.”
“We got this rolling and would like to know if the community is willing to participate in the autodiscipline needed to achieve the goals of the recommendations. Moreover, we are looking for further focus and detail on the proposed ideas and on what could be additional ideas that the group may have overseen.” The group will post on the following topics:
-Setting data standards
-Optimizing the application of existing tools
-Predictive toxicology
-Therapeutic area focus
-Communication and outreach
Please join the discussion at Nature Network by providing your feedback and proposals.
Applying systems biology to benefit human health forum at Nature Network.