“…The major goal of a systems approach in biology was to develop theories (mathematical models) to serve as "gestalts" for interpreting experimental observations and pave the way to establish biology as an "exact" science. These ideals are consonant with the works of pioneering systems physiologists such as Yates et al (1968), who stated that "a system of coupled, connected and interacting biological components has properties beyond those that can be discovered by analysis of the components in isolation" and, relatedly, that "the objective of systems biology is to determine the dynamic attributes of a biosystem of interest, and to rationalize these attributes in terms of particular properties of the components, signals, and connections involved". Many modern conceptions of physiologic control are deeply rooted in systems theories ranging from feedback and homeostasis (Cannon, 1929) to allometry and ontogenic growth (Adolph, 1949;von Bertalanffy, 1950).…”