An assessment of the role of computing in systems biology

Systems biology is a burgeoning field in which researchers are investigating a flood of new data that is gathered in high-throughput genomics, proteomics, and related analyses. Systems biologists focus on what this data reveals about the functioning of living systems. The large volume of data, and the complexity of living systems, ensures that computing plays a central role in analyzing, modeling, and simulating these systems. In this paper, we discuss some of the key challenges in the field of computational systems biology. We also discuss possible ways in which the field of systems biology may evolve in coming years, along with some of the demands that systems biology research places on computing resources.