The limits of reductionism in medicine: could systems biology offer an alternative?

PLoS Med. 2006 May;3(6):e208. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030208.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomedical Research*
  • Circadian Rhythm
  • Disease / etiology
  • Drug Therapy
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Homeostasis
  • Human Genome Project
  • Humans
  • Models, Biological
  • Nonlinear Dynamics
  • Risk Factors
  • Systems Biology*
  • Systems Integration
  • Systems Theory*