How is systems biology similar to reverse engineering?

Systems biology is often compared to reverse engineering because of the fundamental difference between how engineers build systems and how biologists study them. While systems engineering involves assembling known components to create a system that functions according to a specific design, biologists must work in the opposite direction.1

In systems biology, researchers begin with an existing, complex biological entity—such as a cell or organism—and must identify its individual components and their properties. They then attempt to infer how the interactions between these parts create the system's observable behaviors. Because the number and strength of these interactions are vast and must be deduced after the fact from the system's performance, the process is effectively a form of "systems reverse engineering".21

This approach mirrors the definition of reverse engineering, which involves disassembling and analyzing a device to discover the concepts behind its manufacture. In biology, this requires inferring the "blueprint" of the system from its genetic material and collective molecular interactions.32