Advancing systems medicine and therapeutics through biosimulation

This Interface Focus issue presents 15 different facets of the research conducted by the participants of the BioSim Network (www.biosim-network.net). BioSim was a network of excellence under the Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health Thematic Priority Area of the 6th European Framework Programme. The immediate goal of the network was to develop modelling and simulation approaches that can help the pharmaceutical industry achieve a more rational drug development process. In a broader perspective, the network aimed at contributing in an essential manner to the development of an integrated and quantitative understanding of biological processes. It included a total of 40 partners, including 26 academic research groups from various universities, nine SMEs and Novo Nordisk, with many of the partners having strong collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry. The network established a platform for very fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration with biological groups providing insights into genetics, biochemistry, cellular biology, pharmacology, endocrinology, neurology and physiology; clinicians and hospital groups bringing experience in treatments of depression, various forms of tremor, and cancer clinical interventions and theoreticians providing expertise in bioinformatics, systems biology (SB), network theory, statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics and complex systems theory, as well as pharmacokinetics and clinical trial planning.