Academics and students discuss the Systems biology research theme at the University of Exeter. View full size.
Systems biology is an interdisciplinary, emerging field which combines biological systems with the traditionally more separate disciplines of physics, mathematics, engineering and computer science.
Biological systems display self-ordered and emergent properties that are not displayed by their individual components – life being the most obvious emergent property. A contrasting feature of biological systems which distinguishes them from non-living systems, is their inherent variability and the action of natural selection on all of the interacting components.
The goal of systems biology is to distil principles behind the generation, diversification and maintenance of biological processes. The aim is to allow biologists to work in an increasingly predictive manner in the study of living cells, drawing on mathematical models which have a proven track record in other physical and engineering sciences.
As one of the five key themes which feature as part of the University's £80 million science strategy, systems biology research at Exeter combines the expertise of academics within Biosciences and the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, to understand biological processes across scales, from sub-cellular phenomena up to the ecological level.
As an MSc student on the programme, you will benefit from biological, mathematical and computational teaching and research across this breadth of academic knowledge. You will be trained in a modern systems-based approach exposing you to a range of state-of-the-art high throughput data generation platforms, including next generation sequencing and mass spectroscopy along with associated computational and modelling approaches. The programme will develop your biological, modelling and computational skills through a combination of taught modules and jointly supervised project work.
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the programme, the programme is available to students from a wide range of first-degree backgrounds including biology, computer science, medicine, engineering and mathematics.
Systems Biology is at the frontier of modern biological research. It combines mathematics and engineering with novel high-throughput biological data acquisition techniques in order to fully describe biological systems from molecular to ecological levels. Increasingly, this systems approach is becoming the norm in biological research and related industries, including medicine, pharmaceutics, and biotechnology. The Bioinformatics and Systems Biology MSc programme we have developed at Exeter offers fundamental research and vocational skills to students and puts them in touch with world-leading research in this exciting field.
Dr Orkun Soyer, Lecturer in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
