PNNL

Abstract

With the completion of several dozen genome sequences and the first draft of the human genome in 2000, biological research is moving rapidly into the "post-genomic era". Contributing to the movement towards this era are recent advances in robotics, DNA sequencing technology, and computational analysis, all of which are resulting in an increasingly large amount of DNA sequence data, along with an array of experimental and bioinformatic tools increasingly being used for its analysis. In the post-genomic era, studies will be designed to characterize complex cellular "systems", consisting of networks of molecular networks. In the new paradigm, cellular processes are increasingly subject to global study and modeled from the "top-down", leading to new understandings of the cellular functions of the individual system constituents, how they respond to environmental perturbations, and the emergent properties arising from the complex nature of their interactions. A major goal is to understand both the molecular and cellular processes provides a basis for understanding the robustness of cellular systems, the possible modular nature of the cellular machinery, the nature of epigenetic and multigenic diseases, individual variability is susceptibility to disease, and for developing predictive capabilities of the effects arising from external perturbations. Additionally, the information gained potentially leads to an understanding of the molecular "nodes" that can be targeted for drug development, gene therapy, genetic manipulations, etc.