Institute for System Biology

Overview of Institute for System Biology(ISB)

System Biology is the study of the interactions between genes, proteins and biochemical reactions which give rise to life. System Biologist focuses more on all the components and the interactions among them instead of analyzing individual components. These interactions are the main reasons for the form and function in an organism.

System Biology came from the result of the genetics “catalog” provided by the Human Genome project. Another reason is the increasing knowledge of how genes and their resulting proteins give rise to biological form and function. The internet aided the study of System Biology with ease as it allows researchers to store and distribute massive amounts of information.

Overview of HUMAN PROTEOME FOLDING PROJECT

The Human Proteome Folding Project, which use the power of computer to predict the shaping of Human proteins for which are still new to researcher. The researchers hope to learn something from this shape as the shape of the proteins show how they function inside our body.

The project starts with human proteins from the human genome. We will fold the proteins that have no known structure. By using the Rosetta structure prediction, we can predict the structures (fold) of these unknown proteins. Rosetta uses a scoring method to search through huge numbers of possible structures and choose the best among all. Then we will cross-match the predicted structures with existing protein structures using the X-ray crystallography and NMR-spectroscopy to see if the prediction has been seen before. If a match is found, the researcher will use various methods to get the function of these unknown proteins.

My Conclusion

Systems biology is advancing in a fast pace; we are currently at the turning point in further understanding of what the future holds for biology and human medicine. The ISB is the pioneer of this new opportunity.

Source:
http://www.systemsbiology.org/
http://www.systemsbiology.org/Technology/Data_Visualization_and_Analysis/Human_Proteome_Folding_Project