Systems Biology
Systems Biology is an interdisciplinary field of study that integrates concepts and skills from biochemistry, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, statistics and computer science to solve current problems in health, evolution, biotechnology and agriculture. Graduates are prepared to apply knowledge across disciplinary boundaries to tackle the most fundamental questions of how living systems work and to improve the quality of human life.
We recommend students in Systems Biology consider applying to the Integrated Science Curriculum.
Systems Biology Major
The Division of Systems Biology at Virginia Tech offers a Bachelor of Science degree program designed to train undergraduate students in the theoretical concepts, computational methodologies and experimental approaches necessary to understand living organisms as systems of closely interacting parts of increasing complexity. Such systems evolve emergent properties that their individual components cannot have. The program provides opportunities for career planning and gaining rigorous research experiences.
The bachelor of science degree in Systems Biology at Virginia Tech is one of only three such programs in the United States, offering students the flexibility of tailoring their training toward life or physical sciences.
Systems Biology Minor
The Division of Systems Biology offers a minor program to prepare VT students for exciting careers in cutting-edge biomedical industries or for advanced training in the most competitive graduate programs in biology, systems or computational biology.
Career Paths
- Genetics & Molecular Biology
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Biomedical Engineering
- Computational Biology
- Biomedical Sciences
- Precision Medicine
- Synthetic Biology
- Biotechnology
- Bioinformatics
- Microbiology
Systems Biology in the News
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Systems Biology in Practice
Computational cell biology looks to build accurate mathematical representations of controlled cell networks so that a computer can work out the precise implications of hypothetical molecular mechanisms.
How do we use mathematical equations in the production of medicine?
“DNA is the information code that gives us life, but what if it could hold the content of our life too? If we could encode data into DNA, then we could use DNA to store information just like computers.”
“In the last 20 years, we have undergone three major revolutions in biomedical research which allow people like me and my students to discover potential drug targets to treat cancer dressed in our PJs.”
Systems Biology in Practice - Academics
May 2023 - Pavel Kraikivski and Anand Banerjee lead a summer minicourse on “Multiscale Analysis and Mechanistic Modeling of Biological Systems
May 2021 - Systems Biology Lunch and Learn with Iulia Lazar
October 2020 - John Tyson, University Distinguished Professor and Emeritus at Virginia Tech, reflects on the emergence of molecular systems biology