系统和合成生物学（SSB）是两个新兴领域，它们结合了工程学和其他学科的实验和理论方法，以解决生物科学和医学中的基础和应用问题。系统生物学试图了解细胞，一组细胞或整个组织内的生物学过程如何在“网络水平”上工作，并且通常试图确定生物学成分（例如基因，蛋白质和生化反应）如何）相互作用以产生确定的生理反应和行为。最终，对生物系统的这种多尺度理解对于更好地了解人类疾病的原因和进展至关重要，并且有望导致可以日益个性化的新治疗策略。
Synthetic Biology and Genome Engineering is an emergent field that combines experimental and theoretical approaches from engineering and other disciplines to solve both fundamental and applied problems in the biosciences and medicine. This field involves the purposeful design of biological systems possessing new functional properties, typically using molecular genetic parts.<br><br>Approaches include the engineering of novel proteins to the creation of artificial gene networks that can process information, sense and respond to complex set of environmental cues, and produce industrially important commodities for biological or biomedical applications. Many new technologies in fields such as plant science, environmental engineering, and chemical production will also be based on these advances.<br><br>Our faculty are designing approaches for engineered cell therapies, novel contrast agents for highly specific imaging applications, tools for epigenetic regulation of human diseases, and next-generation patient-specific therapeutics. These research areas are tightly related through the use of quantitative experimental and theoretical approaches to characterize biological networks and to understand emergent functional relationships and behaviors. This area has enormous potential to make truly significant contributions to mankind in both medical and non-medical fields over the next decades.