From omics to systems biology: towards a more complete description and understanding of biology

Abstract

Technology sets limits on what can be achieved in research. The advent of genetic engineering accompanied by the development of monoclonal antibody technology in the 1970s heralded the birth of modern ‘molecular biology’. This revolutionised the way we approach research in the biological sciences by allowing access to cellular structures and processes that were in the realm of science fiction a decade earlier. The invention of the PCR in the 1980s built on this, making cloning easier and a great deal more rapid; with PCR we no longer required a host and vector to amplify DNA and isolate targeted DNA sequences.