Systems biologists are pushing the envelope of preventive medicine through research centered on the interactions of the thousands of pieces of DNA, RNA and proteins that network together in each cell of our body.

According to its proponents, systems biology will revolutionize medicine, transforming it from something that is mainly reactive into something that is predictive and will eventually prevent diseases getting hold in the first place.

The field incorporates analysis of the expression of hundreds of different genes and proteins that give clues into the origins of cancer and other diseases. Systems biologists aim to understand how cells work by seeing biology as a network of systems, consisting of genes written in DNA, which send messages about the cell written in RNA, which provide the recipes for proteins, which do the work of life in our bodies. Understanding the networks will lead to tests that will identify diseases such as cancer, diabetes and AIDS.