Feedback Medicine: Control Systems Concepts in Personalised, Predictive Medicine and Combinatorial Intervention

In its broadest definition, systems biology is the application of a ‘systems’ way of thinking about and doing cell biology [1]. By implication, this also invites us to consider a systems approach in the context of medicine and the treatment of disease. In particular, the idea that systems biology can form the basis of a personalised, predictive medicine [2, 3] will require that much closer attention is paid to the analytic properties of the feedback loops which will be set up by a personalised approach to healthcare. To emphasize the role that feedback theory will play in understanding personalised medicine, we use the term feedback medicine to describe the issues outlined in these working notes. More generally and beyond the personalised medicine debate, we advocate this ‘systems’ approach be extended to medicine as an important ingredient in future bio-medical research. In this context, and in our interpretation, the systems approach pays close attention to: