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Paper long abstract:

When the term 'systems biology' began to spread its wings within the life sciences around the turn of this century, the suggestion to introduce systems theory to biological research was not without antecedents. Scholars like Norbert Wiener, Ludwig von Bertalanffy and Robert Rosen stand for an 'early' systems biology approach; but the character of current systems biology is also heavily influenced by recent developments. After a period of breakthroughs in molecular biology and the production of -omics data, a 'new' systems biology is currently being institutionalised via interdisciplinary research centres (e.g. in the US, the UK and Germany), the formation of collaborative networks on a national (e.g. HepatoSys and the Virtual Liver Network in Germany) and international level (e.g. within the EU funding initiatives SysMO and ERASysBio). Drawing on empirical material (in-depth interviews with systems biologists in Austria, Germany and the UK and participatory observation in University courses and at conferences), I will address the following questions:

- How homogeneous is the 'new' systems biology?

- Is there a uniting aspect among current systems biologies? How could we characterise it?

- How are the various systems biologies positioned towards the ideal models of 'pure'/ 'basic' or 'applied' research?

- Is systems biology to be understood as a paradigm, a theory, a methodology, an approach, a set of practices or a discursive strategy?

Discussing these fundamental aspects is deemed to be of paramount importance for (re)positioning technoscience governance and technoscience assessment.