WebeginthisexplorationwithPartI,toprovidethecomputerscientistwithanintroductiontothe underlyingprinciplesofcellbiology. ThisisfollowedbyabriefintroductioninPartIIasameansfor thebiologisttobecomefamiliarwithconceptsandthestatisticalanalysisoflargedatasets. PartIII thendescribes,todate,thebestcharacterizeduseofthemicroarrayplatformthatisnowmoving towardswholegenomeanalysis. Withallofthisdata,howdowebeginanalysisforcommonelements guidingtheunderlyingprinciples? ThisisdiscussedinPartIVwhichleadstoPartVandPartVIto test,insilico,therelationshipsonawidescaleinordertoassesstheirapplicability. Upondeveloping theassociations, PartVIIaskshowdoesthisinformationrelatetowhatwasmeasured? Asthesebasic principlesaredevelopedfroman¿¿omics¿¿drivenbiologicalsystemsapproach,theyareappliedin PartVIIItotranslationalmedicine. Anexcellentexampleisthenewterm¿¿personalizedmedicine¿¿ thatisbeginningtoreverberateinclinicalcare. ItistheculminationoftheSystemsBiologyrevolution wheretechnologicaladvancesandcross- fertilizationhavedriventhefieldtomaturetothepoint whereitisbeingincorporatedinatruebench-to-bedsidemanner. Asyoureadthechapters,youwillfindthattheycanstandalone,yetcanbecombinedto emphasizetheintegralroleofinformaticsinSystemsBiology. Mostofthefiguresandtablesarein greyscale. IwouldencourageyoutoviewthosethatbenefitfromcolorontheaccompanyingCD. ThematerialcontainedontheCDprovidesanexcellentsourceofslidesforyourlecturesand presentations. v vi Preface Thechapter- relatedGlossaryandAbbreviationssectionwillassistinfamiliarizingyouwiththe terms. Youwillalsofindtheliteratureandsuggestedreadingsections,includingkeyreferences, veryusefulasyoudelveintothesubjectmatter. Technology,byitsverymeaningimpliesrefinement and change. The informatics approaches used in systems biology are continually subject to refinement. Withthisreality,youareencouragedtoutilizethewebsiteinformationprovidedin variouschapterstohelpaccessthemostcurrentinformationandresourcesavailable. AsSystems Biologydevelopsweareabletow