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Nature Reviews Genetics 8, 235–243 (1 March 2007) | doi:10.1038/nrg2048

Beyond standardization: dynamic software infrastructures for systems biology

Morris A. Swertz & Ritsert C. Jansen

Progress in systems biology is seriously hindered by slow production of suitable software infrastructures. Biologists need infrastructure that easily connects to work that is done in other laboratories, for which standardization is helpful. However, the infrastructure must also accommodate the specifics of their biological system, but appropriate mechanisms to support variation are currently lacking. We argue that a minimal computer language, and a software tool called a generator, can be used to quickly produce customized software infrastructures that 'systems biologists really want to have'.