ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on interdisciplinarity in the new field of systems biology, and its implications for individual disciplinary identity. It is based on attendance at systems biology conferences and workshops, extended stays in three systems biology laboratories in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), and two discussion meetings with systems biologists. Even if systems biology's collaborative interdisciplinarity is the product of necessity, this does not mean that the institutionalisation of interdisciplinarity has been easy. Scientists working in systems biology talked about how they have developed a kind of shared language where they have learnt to use some of the words from other disciplines in a way which facilitates communication. There is disagreement about the best way to train the systems biologists of the future, and whether individual interdisciplinarity should be encouraged at all. Some think that radical changes in science education are necessary, reaching down to undergraduate or even high school level.
