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A Glossary for Systems Biology Contents Index - Glossary - About this Introduction A History Submit - Comment Motivation While all those groups have a lot of information and experience in their respective fields to bring into the cooperations, understanding each other is sometimes quite difficult. Each discipline has its own language, terms, implied meanings and connotations. In some cases they even use the same words, but might imply either identical or completely different things. Specialist Languages In theory, scientific language should be a consistently structured entity, comprising clearly defined terms. As WEINGARTEN and JANICH [27] point out, it is meant to be different in this respect from other specialized languages like those of craftsmen, who do not need to interact with people from trades other than their own. This gives craftsmen a lot more freedom in developing and passing along their professional language. Those languages evolve through use, are verified through successful use and are passed on from master to apprentice by using them in their work. Scientific Language - Theory Science, on the other hand, has the self-imposed goal of universality and trans-subjectivity. This means scientific language should be 'inter-operable' between different fields of science; at least it should be possible for somebody from one field of science to go to a colleague from a different field and have him explain his specialty and the relevant terms in a structured way, as he should be able to explain his own. Scientific Language - Reality In reality, scientific language is handled like the language of craftsmen in many ways, while science upholds the credo of universality [27]. This might not be surprising historically, since the increasing tendency for specialization and sub-specialization of fields of science is a relatively new phenomenon. It happened as a reaction to the increasing knowledge of the different fields, which no single person could integrate into a single body of knowledge anymore. But already there are signs of a reversal of this trend, as some fields of science try to re-integrate their sub-fields into a unifying scheme and others recognize the need for interdisciplinary cooperations - for example systems biology. In both cases, there is an obvious need for knowledge interchange which can only happen if all parties are able to understand each other when talking about their respective fields. This, in turn, is only possible if there is either some sort of scientific meta-language or if every field is able to give unequivocal explanations of their specialized terms. These terms must therefore not be allowed to evolve and be taught like those of a craft. Instead, they have to be precisely defined, so that the scientific language of a different field can be acquired like a foreign language - that maybe is not all that foreign at all [27]. The Project This project is the attempt to improve this information interchange for the emerging field of systems biology. The goal of this work is to provide a glossary of terms used in systems biology, to point out differences in meaning between the different fields, and hopefully thereby improve understanding between all persons involved in this cooperative effort of systems biology. This glossary is meant to be used by biologists, systems theorists and people from cooperating fields alike. It shows systems theorists and biologists what the other means by a certain term and hopes to thereby further understanding. This first attempt can of course never be complete and was never meant to be. It will be a start, covering the most important terms, and provide a basis for discussion and extension. To facilitate this, the glossary will be available in an online version.   Contents   Index Glossary Submit Comment

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