Systems Biology and society

The emergence of a scientific discipline can have enormous and lasting societal impact. For example, the establishment of Molecular Biology in the late 1930’s led to the discovery of the structure of DNA in the 1950’s, Genetic Engineering in the 1970’s, and the introduction of Genomics and Bioinformatics in the 1990’s. In addition to radically changing our understanding of life and humanity, these scientific milestones dramatically transformed the biological, biomedical and health sciences and laid the foundation for the development of new industrial sectors that are generating global revenues measured in trillions of dollars. The development of Systems Biology, which represents a natural next step in this chain of scientific advancements, is similarly expected to have a significant and lasting impact on society. The field offers concrete changes for success in facilitating advancements in areas that are important to the Canadian economy and to the health and well being of Canadians. Below we provide a brief summation of key areas where Systems Biology is expected to have the greatest impact. Additional details can be found in market analysis reports issued on this topic.

Figure 1. Examples of industrial applications of Systems Biology. Source: The Future of Systems Biology: Emerging technologies and their impact on drug discovery, development and diagnostics.

Economy: Systems Biology has broad applicability in industry (Figure 1) and the potential of applying Systems Biology methods to advance economic growth is widely accepted in industry (see Appendix I). The projected biological information technology (Bio-IT) market is $38 billion , with revenues from Systems Biology products and services expected to grow at an annual compound rate of 66% to $785 million by 2008.

In the pharmaceutical industry, Systems Biology is used among others to improve decision making during development and to identify targets during drug discovery . For example, F. Hoffmann-La Roche uses in silico technologies in approximately 50% of its projects, mostly drugs in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials . Companies in the pharmaceutical sector are also investing directly in the development of academic Systems Biology research. For example, Novartis and AstraZeneca sponsor Systems Biology professorships at Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, respectively. In Canada, Merck-Frosst is funding Systems Biology-related research on Alzheimer’s disease and Invitrogen is, among others, a scientific partner of the Canada-led International Regulome Consortium (IRC) focussing on the Systems Biology of transcriptional regulatory networks. Additionally, recent years have seen the emergence of numerous small and mid-sized Bio-IT companies commercializing Systems Biology. These companies offer technology solutions for data integration and visualization, as well as in silico simulations of pathways, cells, organs and whole-body systems. An example of a mid-sized Canadian company operating in this market is Victoria-based GenoLogics , which provides computational tools that help life science and pharmaceutical labs to manage, integrate and analyze scientific data.

While the Bio-IT and pharmaceutical sectors are expected to dominate the Systems Biology market, the applications of Systems Biology extend further. Among others, the integration and incorporation of multi-scale biological data into bioprocess design, development, operation and optimization will benefit Canadian industries through reduced production cost. For example, the global ethanol production capacity was 24 billion litres in 2005. Increasing this capacity by merely one percent will result in tens of millions of dollars in profit. In the context of the fuel alcohol industry, researchers in Canada and abroad are turning to Systems Biology to alleviate the adverse effects resulting form inhibition of ethanol synthesis under industrial conditions. Moreover, the future competitiveness in the global economy of the Canadian agri-food industry, which is the country’s third largest employer and generates roughly $100 billion in sales and retail activity annually, depends heavily on improving the yield and performance of major crops as well as developing new traits in crops . Similar to the trends in the fuel alcohol industry, agri-food researchers are increasingly relying on Systems Biology when developing metabolic and process-engineering strategies.

Health: The development of Systems Biology technology platforms capable of accurately predicting biological activities at the molecular, cellular and organ levels will have a direct impact on the development of new drugs as well as diagnostic and prognostic tools for the benefit of all Canadians. Additionally, by promoting a more comprehensive perspective on disease, Systems Biology will facilitate the development of new opportunities in medicine with respect to more dynamic and personalized treatment and prevention of disease . This can be realized by adapting Systems Biology tools in the analysis of complex health data to improve public health decisions . For example, many otherwise effective drugs are currently unavailable because of a few cases of adverse side effects that, in theory, could be predicted using Systems Biology tools. In other words, Systems Biology-based personalized medicine could assist in identifying individuals with predisposition for adverse side effects and thus increase the number of available drugs and treatment options for patient groups without these predispositions.

Another research area important to human health is environmental science. The environmental problems facing our society are so complex that it will require an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to address them. Consequently, many environmental scientists are now applying Systems Biology approaches in their research. This includes the development of tools to predict damage to organisms and ecosystems caused by exposure to environmental contaminants; to recognize early warning signs of ecosystem stress and damage; and the development of strategies for waste-site cleanup and bioremediation. Additionally, Systems Biology is being used to study the impact of man-made pollutants in the atmosphere on respiratory health, and to develop methods for the detection and mitigation of outbreaks caused by naturally or intentionally released biological agents such as anthrax, bird flu, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad-cow disease).