An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits (Chapman & Hall/CRC Mathematical and Computational Biology)

If you have any interest in how life actually works, you should read this book. It weighs in at less than 300 pages, which makes it very approachable, but it manages to pack a wide array of fascinating material into those pages.Life is complicated, and there is no reason to expect it to be readily comprehensible. Yet over the last few decades we have found that biological systems make extensive and repetitive use of certain patterns of functionality, and that these patterns often embody good design principles as practiced by human engineers.Concepts such as modularity, robustness, and even optimality are found to be reflected in biological systems and exploitable to make verifiable predictions about how biological systems operate experimentally.It is worth noting that while this book is deeply fascinating, it is not math free. Indeed the author began his career as a physicist and the reader will find it helpful to have some knowledge of basic ordinary differential equations, calculus, and elementary algebra. Some understanding of biochemistry is recommended, but not strictly required. You might be able to get by with Wikipedia as you go.On the other hand, if the word "design" in the title makes you think you are going to find ammunition for intelligent design, you are going to be sorely disappointed.

I used this book as the text for a graduate course in computational systems biology in the spring semester 2009. This book is an excellent text. It presents a lot of insights of how components in biological systems may work together. At the end of the semester, students from biology as well as computer science wrote me emails saying they enjoyed the class. It was not because my teaching rather the rich contents of the book.Biology is a scientific area with a long history. A large amount of knowledge has accumulated in understanding details of single components in biological systems. It is the time to open a new field in biology, the study of systems biology. Apparently, systems biology is interdisciplinary. Because of this, the insights presented in this book is very much useful. I happened to read a couple of recent articles (some of which were in PNAS). In these articles, the idea of motif was used to find networks that control developmental processes based upon data collected in experiments. I believe this book would become classic in systems biology, and very much hope the author would continue the work to produce new edition(s) in the future.

So I haven't read the whole thing yet (just the first few chapters) but as a chemist/biologist who has had NO experience whatsoever with systems biology, I think this book is well-written and serves as good introduction to the topic.

There were several times during my first reading of this book when my jaw literally dropped at how cool biological systems are. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand what systems biology is and/or how the specific "topology" of interactions between system components can confer functions to the cell/organism.There is a fair amount of calculus is this book, but one can still appreciate the main points of the text without knowing the math because the writing style is so good. However, I'd recommend trying to work through the derivations while reading, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the material. Simply reviewing the basics of differentiation, integration, and separable differential equations somewhere online is enough to get through most of the math. Appendix A is especially important to understand as it provides the theoretical foundation for most of the main text.One last tip, don't get discouraged if you can't solve all or even most of the problems; some of them are very challenging and I'm convinced were not meant to be solved by someone whose only experience comes from this book.

I come from a Biological background and have a deep interest in Systems Biology. I didn't find the book particularly difficult to get through but it can be dry at times (would you expect any different?). Overall I found the book both very deep, interesting, and fulfilling. Many of the engineering concepts were explained in a very easy-to-understand method. Math equations are provided when important for those of us who are interested.I have learned a great deal more about Systems Biology from reading this book!

Uri Alon searches for the most recurrent connectivity patterns (motifs) found in natural networks and then analyze their dynamical properties in detail. Although simple, the consequences of having these motifs (and combinations of them) in gene regulatory networks are not always easy to grasp, and the author makes a good job clarifying their function. Despite some mathematical fluency is assumed, I think the simplicity of his language, added to the explanatory figures accompanying the text, makes it easy to read and understand. A must for 'Systems Biology' oriented people, and a good lecture for any student interested in the field.

I'm a professor in molecular biology and wanted to learn more about networks so I could begin to apply it in my research. This textbook is an excellent introduction for getting a professional in a related area up to speed to begin to apply and use these ideas in a technical capacity. Very easy to read and understand. The information plugs into a general knowledge of modern molecular biology. The math starts at the level we all were trained in, such as a Michaelis-Menten reaction. Excellent book and highly recommended.

The book is easy to understand and detailed, but the questions always make me confused about what it's asking for.

Gutes Buch...

Got this book fast and just what wanted.

A good intro to the System Biology ! Uri Alon explains concisely and clearly the implied dynamics in the discipline and leads the reader into the fascinating world of System Biology. A must have !

a nice introduction to systems biology. it gives network structures of E Coli, the basic network motifs present in gene regulatory networks. it can be used as a foundation for further study in the subject.

Well written, easy to follow for no mathematical experts.Perfect for biologists, physicians, physicists, who need to understand the baiscs of this new field: systems biology.The author has also free videos on youtube supporting the material on this book.I have enjoyed it.