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Systems Biology in Single Cells

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Essentials of Single-Cell Analysis

Part of the book series: Series in BioEngineering ((SERBIOENG))

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Abstract

From the beginning of the twenty-first century, there has been a shift towards studying biological processes using a holistic rather than a reductionist scientific paradigm thus establishing the approach now named “systems biology” or “systomics”. This method of biological investigation represents a synergy where life sciences, systems engineering, and information technology examine the interactions between biological pathways, rather than solely focusing on individual pathways in an isolated manner. To date, systems biology has often studied population averages rather than individual characteristics of cells which might display a significant spread. However, as a single cell is the smallest operational biological unit that encompasses all metabolites necessary for maintaining a viable living entity, the application of systems biology approaches to the study of distinct cells is fast becoming a goal of many research groups. In this chapter we will describe some of the technologies that enable the isolation of individual cells in a form that accommodates systomics studies, the biological methods that are then deployed on such isolated cells to generate system-level information, and finally describe some of the bioinformatics that is specifically directed towards single-cell studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Glasnevin, Ireland

    Macdara Glynn, Damien King & Jens Ducrée

Authors
  1. Macdara Glynn
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  2. Damien King
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  3. Jens Ducrée
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jens Ducrée .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Fan-Gang Tseng

  2. National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Tuhin Subhra Santra

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© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Glynn, M., King, D., Ducrée, J. (2016). Systems Biology in Single Cells. In: Tseng, FG., Santra, T. (eds) Essentials of Single-Cell Analysis. Series in BioEngineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49118-8_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49118-8_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-49116-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-49118-8

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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