Whither systems medicine

Creating specialised computer systems to integrate big data from multiple sources may help provide tailored future healthcare. A healthcare system that meets the needs of every individual needs the ability to collect and mine data precisely and efficiently. Olaf Wolkenhauer at Rostock University, Germany and co-workers have explored the requirements for developing this ‘systems medicine’ approach. Interdisciplinary teams should be established specifically to develop software, computational models and integrated datasets for use in healthcare. Being able to harness information from huge medical datasets could dramatically improve our understanding of disease, and allow scientists to examine illnesses from the molecular scale to whole body responses. Systems medicine could also allow doctors to investigate an individual's specific needs, trial treatments through computer models, and analyze data captured on patients' smartphones, to provide safer, more personalised heathcare.