This volume features contributions from participants of an ESRF Workshop on "Systems Biology" held in Berkeley, USA, in November 2005. Significant progress has been made in developing technologies that enable systems interrogations at a molecular level. Recent successes and challenges of applying systems level measurements to the different steps of drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry are summarized.

This volume features contributions from participants of an ESRF Workshop on "Systems Biology" held in Berkeley, USA, in November 2005. Significant progress has been made in developing technologies that enable systems interrogations at a molecular level. Overwhelming data sets are generated ever faster, providing enormous detail. In order to be useful, however, all these data must be appropriately integrated, analyzed in the context of all other information available and eventually modelled, enabling predictions for therapeutic interventions. Recent successes and challenges of applying systems level measurements to the different steps of drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry are summarized.