Center for Systems Biology

The MGH Center for Systems Biology (CSB) was established in 2007 as one of the five thematic interdisciplinary Centers at MGH. The Center is directed by Professor Ralph Weissleder, and is located on two floors in the new Simches Research Building.

The mission of the Center is to analyze at a systems level how biological molecules, proteins and cells interact in both healthy and diseased states.

Through a multidisciplinary approach that combines clinical insight with powerful technologies, CSB faculty pursue systems-level research that is at once fundamental, and yet immediately linked to the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. While these approaches are generalizable to many diseases, the Center has particular strengths in complex human conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, and renal disease. This goal is enabled by particular faculty expertise in genomics, chemical biology, physiology, bioimaging, and nanotechnology.

The Center is a major node for the Harvard-wide Program in Systems Biology, and has active links with the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, clinical departments at MGH, and the other MGH thematic centers.

Recent News

2008-04-28: Herbert Lin, MD is elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, one of the oldest and most esteemed organizations of physician-scientists.

2008-04-22: Work of CSB investigators is featured in the Harvard Magazine. (pdf)

2008-03-25: The Council for Systems Biology in Boston (CSB2), the Cell Decision Process Center, and the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School are pleased to announce the opening of registration for "Systems Biology of Human Disease", an international conference scheduled for June 12-13 2008 at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School.

2008-03-03: Herbert Lin, MD has been chosen as the winner of the Stephen Krane Award of MGH Department of Medicine. This award both honors a distinguished leader in the Arthritis Unit and Department of Medicine and also recognizes young leaders in the Department who are carrying on the traditions of investigative excellence that Steve Krane so spectacularly embodies

2008-02-28: The Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reports that the CSB paper, "Use of gene expression profiling to direct in vivo molecular imaging of lung cancer" is one of the 30 most-read papers online during the month of January 2008.