The programme 'Systems Biology of the Living Cell' focuses on the chain of events all the way from modulation of gene expression up to the resulting phenotype in cells. This approach lets us 'look into' living cells to study life processes in real time in situ. The unique information that this approach provides, the possibility of linking this information with metabolomics and proteomics data, combined with the computational simulation of the processes under study, is leading to a shift in paradigm, often referred to as 'Systems Biology'.

Systems biology will be a major focus of research in the coming years. The programme 'Systems Biology of the Living Cell' is uniquely positioned to play an important role in this development. The tight links of the research groups in this programme with the NWO Research Institutes the 'Center for Mathematics and Computer Science' (CWI) and the 'Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics' (AMOLF), as well as with related groups at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam assures the availability of all required expertise and of sufficient 'focus and mass'.