First, systems biology is an inter-disciplinary approach, requiring the combined talents of biologists, mathematicians, and computer scientists. Second, systems biology is holistic, with the goal of obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the workings of biological systems. This is achieved through the acquisition of massive amounts of data by high-throughput technologies-oligonucleotide microarrays, mass spectrometry, and next-generation sequencing-and the analysis of this data through sophisticated mathematical algorithms. It is perhaps the use of mathematics, to integrate abundant and diverse types of data and to generate models of interconnected molecular networks, that best characterizes systems biology.

Introduction

Editorial
System approaches to dissecting Immunity
Integrative omics and modeling of pathogenic Samonellae and Yersiniae
The role and contribution of system biology to the non-human primate model of influenza pathogenesis and vaccinology
Host-pathogen genome politics and policies
The TB regulatory network
Proteomic network understanding of immune cell signaling and cell-cell communication via data-driven modeling
Systems vaccinology
Correlates of vaccine and natural mediated immune protection in HIV infection
System biology approach for new target and biomarker identification
Subject index.