Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 May;3(6):e208.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030208.

The limits of reductionism in medicine: could systems biology offer an alternative?

Andrew C Ahn  1 , Muneesh Tewari, Chi-Sang Poon, Russell S Phillips
Affiliations

The limits of reductionism in medicine: could systems biology offer an alternative?

Andrew C Ahn et al. PLoS Med. 2006 May.

Abstract

In the first of a two part series, Ahn and colleagues discuss the reductionist approach pervading medicine and explain how a systems approach (as advocated by systems biology) may complement reductionism.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. E. coli Chemotaxis
E. coli has been observed to migrate toward areas of higher aspartate concentrations through a series of “runs” and “tumbles” (see Box 1). Autophosph, autophosphorylation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lindberg D. The beginnings of western science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1992. 474 pp.
    1. Sweeney K, Kernick D. Clinical evaluation: Constructing a new model for postnormal medicine. J Eval Clin Pract. 2002;8:131–138. - PubMed
    1. Buchman TG. The community of self. Nature. 2002;420:246–251. - PubMed
    1. Zaloga G. Hypocalcemia in critically ill patients. Crit Care Med. 1992;20:251–262. - PubMed
    1. Zaloga G, Sager A, Black K, Prielipp R. Low dose calcium administration increases mortality during septic peritonitis in rates. Circ Shock. 1992;37:226–229. - PubMed

Publication types