Paper long abstract:

The plethora and heterogeneity of data in systems medicine have caused a change in approaches to data handling and processing. To digitally store data generated from different biological processes and to link different databases from disparate sources, new methodological and conceptual approaches have become necessary. Hence, methods and methodologies from high-performance computing and informatics have been applied to develop extensive ICT infrastructures in different medical domains. These infrastructures are supposed to provide secure access to the increasingly growing databases and to make data standardized, integrated and communicable. By using ICT infrastructures, medical researchers have the advantage to easily connect and collaborate within the emerging interdisciplinary communities (Leonelli/Ankeny 2012). However, in spite of their meaning to organizing and finally doing systems research, ICT infrastructures are often regarded not as being part of the original research processes.

In contrast to this, we hypothesize that ICT infrastructures are not merely service facilities to support research activities, but enable and restrict doing systems research at the same time. Based on a case study in systems cancer research, we will argue that the understanding and modeling of biological systems is profoundly shaped by ICT technologies and their underlying conceptualizations. Additionally, individual scientists and research institutions cede the responsibilities of the activities associated with standardization, integration and management of data. As the systems medicine communities basically rely on the use of ICT infrastructures, these computational architectures are promised to become new, powerful formations for knowledge production and knowledge producer communities at the same time.