<unk>  can be considered from a number of different aspects:
Some sources discuss<unk>  as a field of study, particularly, the study of the interactions between the components of biological systems, and how these interactions give rise to the function and behavior of that system (for example, the enzymes and metabolites in a metabolic pathway).
Other sources consider<unk>  as a paradigm, usually defined in antithesis to the so-called reductionist paradigm, although fully consistent with the scientific method. The distinction between the two paradigms is referred to in these quotations:
Still other sources view<unk>  in terms of the operational protocols used for performing research, namely a cycle composed of theory, analytic or computational modelling to propose specific testable hypotheses about a biological system, experimental validation, and then using the newly acquired quantitative description of cells or cell processes to refine the computational model or theory. Since the objective is a model of the interactions in a system, the experimental techniques that most suit<unk>  are those that are system-wide and attempt to be as complete as possible. Therefore, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics and high-throughput techniques are used to collect quantitative data for the construction and validation of models.
Finally, some sources see it as a socioscientific phenomenon defined by the strategy of pursuing integration of complex data about the interactions in biological systems from diverse experimental sources using interdisciplinary tools and personnel.
This variety of viewpoints is illustrative of the fact that<unk>  refers to a cluster of peripherally overlapping concepts rather than a single well-delineated field. However the term has widespread currency and popularity as of 2007, with chairs and institutes of<unk>  proliferating worldwide (Such as the Institute for<unk>  in Seattle, Washington, USA).
Systems biology
Cognitive science
Systematics
Systems science
Clinical engineering
Social neuroscience
Molecular biology
Health care informatics