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The Limits of Reductionism in Medicine: Could Systems Biology Offer an Alternative?

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  • Andrew C Ahn
  • Muneesh Tewari
  • Chi-Sang Poon
  • Russell S Phillips

Abstract

In the first of a two part series, Ahn and colleagues discuss the reductionist approach pervading medicine and explain how a systems approach (as advocated by systems biology) may complement reductionism.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew C Ahn & Muneesh Tewari & Chi-Sang Poon & Russell S Phillips, 2006. "The Limits of Reductionism in Medicine: Could Systems Biology Offer an Alternative?," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(6), pages 1-1, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pmed00:0030208
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030208
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Bahram Houchmandzadeh & Eric Wieschaus & Stanislas Leibler, 2002. "Establishment of developmental precision and proportions in the early Drosophila embryo," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6873), pages 798-802, February.
    3. Naama Barkai & Stanislas Leibler, 2000. "Circadian clocks limited by noise," Nature, Nature, vol. 403(6767), pages 267-268, January.
    4. Johannes Jaeger & Svetlana Surkova & Maxim Blagov & Hilde Janssens & David Kosman & Konstantin N. Kozlov & Manu & Ekaterina Myasnikova & Carlos E. Vanario-Alonso & Maria Samsonova & David H. Sharp & J, 2004. "Dynamic control of positional information in the early Drosophila embryo," Nature, Nature, vol. 430(6997), pages 368-371, July.
    5. N. Barkai & S. Leibler, 1997. "Robustness in simple biochemical networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 387(6636), pages 913-917, June.
    6. Avigdor Eldar & Ruslan Dorfman & Daniel Weiss & Hilary Ashe & Ben-Zion Shilo & Naama Barkai, 2002. "Robustness of the BMP morphogen gradient in Drosophila embryonic patterning," Nature, Nature, vol. 419(6904), pages 304-308, September.
    7. Chi-Sang Poon & Christopher K. Merrill, 1997. "Decrease of cardiac chaos in congestive heart failure," Nature, Nature, vol. 389(6650), pages 492-495, October.
    8. Michael B. Elowitz & Stanislas Leibler, 2000. "A synthetic oscillatory network of transcriptional regulators," Nature, Nature, vol. 403(6767), pages 335-338, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew C Ahn & Muneesh Tewari & Chi-Sang Poon & Russell S Phillips, 2006. "The Clinical Applications of a Systems Approach," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(7), pages 1-1, May.

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