Integrating biology and technology

It is with great excitement and some trepidation that we launch Integrative Biology, or iBiology. We believe that iBiology fills an essential role at this critical juncture in time as the power of integrating technology and biology is becoming apparent. While the promise and potential of integrative biology is clear, the rate at which the integration occurs and thus, the rate at which biological advances are made is limited in part by the cultural differences (including publishing habits) between the biological and physical/engineering sciences. The culture of academia often creates distinct and separate publishing venues with little cross talk. Thus, methods and tools are often developed either without appropriate biological input or without appropriate biological validation. In short, there is still a gap in language and culture that slows progress.

iBiology aims to bridge that gap by creating a venue for work where technological innovation provides fundamental biological insights not possible with traditional approaches. As technology brings us the ability to control and manipulate the biological environment in more and more precise ways, it is increasingly important that the tool makers understand the biological implications of the tool. Thus, iBiology will also welcome identification and insights of the biological effects of a technology or method. Furthermore, iBiology will promote mathematical modeling that tests and extends experimental data obtained from multiple sources. But fundamentally it is the biology that must drive the development of new tools and methods. Function must triumph over style—it is function that leads to improvements in knowledge. Biological insights derived from the use of physical approaches, principles and tools have the potential to redefine our understanding of complexity in biology. iBiology seeks to publish biological insights that result from astute integration of functional technology with biological inquiry. Ultimately, biological and physical scientists must work in concert to achieve the appropriate mix of function and application to advance biological discovery. Additional topic examples can be found in the instructions for authors.

iBiology is broad in technological and biological scope within a dimensional framework in physical terms from the macro scale to the nano scale, or in biological terms from the multicellular to the molecular. Contributions must present insight, innovation and integration in a way that interests both the biological and physical scientist—this is a non-trivial task, but it is essential to foster this interface if advances are to move from technical demonstration to biological impact. In this first issue, we have some outstanding examples of insight, innovation and integration. The identification and study of stem cells is a hot topic that benefits from new approaches featured in this issue. Lutolf et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b815718a) create arrays of artificial niches that reveal insights into the regulatory mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cells while LaBarge et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b816472j) use similar concepts to help to distinguish between the role of cell–cell and cell–ECM interactions in controlling mammary gland progenitor cell fate. Fernandez-Gonzalez et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b816933k) take an integrative approach by combining image acquisition, processing and analysis to create a multiscale approach to uncover unique subpopulation of putative stem cells. The application of technology creates opportunities to move biology rapidly. Gabi et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b814237h) provide new insights into the interactions of applied currents and cell viability. Irimia et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b814329c) use microfluidics to advance the ability to perform transcriptome analysis on limited samples enabling new approaches to pathway identification. We are aware of the challenges in straddling the disciplines that often have different standards, norms and approaches—but we believe the potential gains in an interdisciplinary journal that weds innovative technology to cutting edge biological problems are worth the effort. We have assembled a committed and involved editorial board whose broad expertise will truly serve the integrative community. We look forward to your contributions, suggestions and involvement in iBiology.

Mary Helen Barcellos-Hoff

David Beebe

Scientific Editors, Integrative Biology

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