博文
生物物理的摩西十戒
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Ten commandments in systems biology
The 5th European Conference on Complex System is holding in Dresden, Germany now. This is really an emerging research area. The multiple para-sessions themselves show how diverse and multi-disciplined it is. It includes:
* Complex system method
* Cognition
* Networks
* Social system
* Biological system
Researchers not only from all countries of Europe, but also from US, Canada, Japan ect.. Unfortunately, there are few Chinese researchers. The most inspiring experience of this conference is that the traditional barriers among disciplines are broken down. You can hear the hybrid system of brain tissue and microelectronic chips, then system biology illustrated using the virtual heart. It was followed by mathematical model of rhythmic behavior in biological system, and a speaker from HP computer Lab talked about social dynamics in cyberspace, mentioning the network properties and quality control of Wikipedia etc.
Today's most heated topic is Prof. Denis Nobel's talk about his revolutionary views about system biology. When I talked with several people after his speech, they all called it astonishing. He called his experience as ten commandments in systems biology.
Commandment 1 (C1): Gene itself has no functions.
It is actually the cooperation and system of genes lead to the function of living things.
C2: Transmission of information is NOT one-way
Traditionally we think that gene decide protein -> pathway -> sub-cellular -> cell->tissue-> organ->body. it is totally wrong that we can start with gene, proteins and then build everything. It is doomed to fail. Gene expression is also decided by the cell culture and proteins to translate them.
There is no magic gene/ genes to cause Cancer, homosexuality, selfishness or high blood pressure. All functions and malfunctions of human being in all level are system properties emerging from the network and interaction of elements.
C3: DNA is not sole transmitter of inheritance
It is quite anti-Darwinism and pro-Lamarkism. But there are some scientific evidences for that. More can seen in article:
Jane Qiu (2006), Unfinished symphony, Nature, 441, 143-145
C4: Theory of biology Relativity
We need to understand the interactions at all level to understand the real functions of living things. We can not unlock nature's myth only from bottom-up strategy. That is, we can not understand the organism only from gene level up to cell level etc. We have to understand it from organ regulating cell or even gene as well.
C5: Gen ontology will fail without high-level insight
It is very mis-leading to find the causes of cancer from the selection of genes without clear understanding the physiology of cancer and evolution theory of organs. Gene is called a blueprint of life. It is wrong. Gene is NOT the book of life. If it is the book, it is the book with huge gap which can not be read at all.
C6: There is not “genetic program”
gene itself is not a program of life, it is only the database of life. There is NO program written in the gene. The reading of this database come from the cell and protein to transcript and translate them.
C7: There is no program at any other level
Life is like a well-coordinated concert but without conductor. Further reading
“The art of Gene”, Enrico Coen ( Oxford Univ Press, 1999)
C8: No program from any level, including brain
C9: Life is the self integrated process, not an object or substance.
C10: There are many more to be discovered, the theories of biology do NOT yet exist. Seeking theory/ies is real challenge in system biology.
(Denis Biography from Wiki)
Denis Noble (born November 16, 1936) is an eminent British biologist who held the Bourdon Sanderson Chair of Cardiovascular Psychology at Oxford University from 1984-2004 and is now Professor Emeritus and co-Director of Computational Physiology. He is one of the pioneers of Systems Biology and developed the first viable mathematical model of the working heart in 1960[1]. His research focuses on using computer models of biological organs and organ systems to interpret function from the molecular level to the whole organism. Together with international collaborators, his team has used supercomputers to create the first virtual organ, the virtual heart.
Noble was educated at Emanuel School and University College London (UCL)[1]. In 1958 he began his investigations into the mechanisms of heartbeat. This led to two seminal papers in Nature in 1960 giving the first proper simulation of the heart. From this work it became clear that there was not a single oscillator which controlled heartbeat, but rather this was an emergent property of the feedback loops in the various channels.
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-3468-8312.html
上一篇：曼城的生物物理会议
下一篇：震撼---将五十年诺奖浓缩到八分钟的动画
The 5th European Conference on Complex System is holding in Dresden, Germany now. This is really an emerging research area. The multiple para-sessions themselves show how diverse and multi-disciplined it is. It includes:
* Complex system method
* Cognition
* Networks
* Social system
* Biological system
Researchers not only from all countries of Europe, but also from US, Canada, Japan ect.. Unfortunately, there are few Chinese researchers. The most inspiring experience of this conference is that the traditional barriers among disciplines are broken down. You can hear the hybrid system of brain tissue and microelectronic chips, then system biology illustrated using the virtual heart. It was followed by mathematical model of rhythmic behavior in biological system, and a speaker from HP computer Lab talked about social dynamics in cyberspace, mentioning the network properties and quality control of Wikipedia etc.
Today's most heated topic is Prof. Denis Nobel's talk about his revolutionary views about system biology. When I talked with several people after his speech, they all called it astonishing. He called his experience as ten commandments in systems biology.
Commandment 1 (C1): Gene itself has no functions.
It is actually the cooperation and system of genes lead to the function of living things.
C2: Transmission of information is NOT one-way
Traditionally we think that gene decide protein -> pathway -> sub-cellular -> cell->tissue-> organ->body. it is totally wrong that we can start with gene, proteins and then build everything. It is doomed to fail. Gene expression is also decided by the cell culture and proteins to translate them.
There is no magic gene/ genes to cause Cancer, homosexuality, selfishness or high blood pressure. All functions and malfunctions of human being in all level are system properties emerging from the network and interaction of elements.
C3: DNA is not sole transmitter of inheritance
It is quite anti-Darwinism and pro-Lamarkism. But there are some scientific evidences for that. More can seen in article:
Jane Qiu (2006), Unfinished symphony, Nature, 441, 143-145
C4: Theory of biology Relativity
We need to understand the interactions at all level to understand the real functions of living things. We can not unlock nature's myth only from bottom-up strategy. That is, we can not understand the organism only from gene level up to cell level etc. We have to understand it from organ regulating cell or even gene as well.
C5: Gen ontology will fail without high-level insight
It is very mis-leading to find the causes of cancer from the selection of genes without clear understanding the physiology of cancer and evolution theory of organs. Gene is called a blueprint of life. It is wrong. Gene is NOT the book of life. If it is the book, it is the book with huge gap which can not be read at all.
C6: There is not “genetic program”
gene itself is not a program of life, it is only the database of life. There is NO program written in the gene. The reading of this database come from the cell and protein to transcript and translate them.
C7: There is no program at any other level
Life is like a well-coordinated concert but without conductor. Further reading
“The art of Gene”, Enrico Coen ( Oxford Univ Press, 1999)
C8: No program from any level, including brain
C9: Life is the self integrated process, not an object or substance.
C10: There are many more to be discovered, the theories of biology do NOT yet exist. Seeking theory/ies is real challenge in system biology.
(Denis Biography from Wiki)
Denis Noble (born November 16, 1936) is an eminent British biologist who held the Bourdon Sanderson Chair of Cardiovascular Psychology at Oxford University from 1984-2004 and is now Professor Emeritus and co-Director of Computational Physiology. He is one of the pioneers of Systems Biology and developed the first viable mathematical model of the working heart in 1960[1]. His research focuses on using computer models of biological organs and organ systems to interpret function from the molecular level to the whole organism. Together with international collaborators, his team has used supercomputers to create the first virtual organ, the virtual heart.
Noble was educated at Emanuel School and University College London (UCL)[1]. In 1958 he began his investigations into the mechanisms of heartbeat. This led to two seminal papers in Nature in 1960 giving the first proper simulation of the heart. From this work it became clear that there was not a single oscillator which controlled heartbeat, but rather this was an emergent property of the feedback loops in the various channels.
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-3468-8312.html
上一篇：曼城的生物物理会议
下一篇：震撼---将五十年诺奖浓缩到八分钟的动画
