Business and Biology? Systems Thinking for the Next Wave of Bioscience & Global Health Innovation
By: Hari A Parthasarathy
Tags: Systems Thinking, High School, NASA, Internships, Nasa Intern

Business and Biology? Systems Thinking for the Next Wave of Bioscience & Global Health Innovation Hari A Parthasarathy Jun 5·5 min read

Hari Parthasarathy, 2021

Blending engineering and computer science with the study of complex living organisms, biotechnology captures the essence of both biology and technology. But business in biology? At first glance, introducing this concept seems incongruous. But recently, the emerging discipline of systems biology — operating at the crossroads of these two fields — does just that!

Systems thinking offers a new perspective into various fields under bioscience. It is characterized (Figure 1) by a holistic bottom-up approach, often with a cross-disciplinary focus, and by the use of computational and mathematical modeling and interconnected networks of data. This philosophy can be compared to building a jigsaw puzzle; you first try to make small sections of pieces that you are confident fit together in the puzzle, then use those to identify the bigger picture. Systems thinking has traditionally been found in business and organizational practices [Forrester, 1989] but has only recently been applied to biology (e.g., [Alon, 2020][Wanjek, 2011]).

Figure 1: Five main characteristics of systems thinking

A path-breaking study [Wolstenholme, 2003] has argued that systems thinking can be simplified into just four high-level “systems archetypes.” Archetypes are generalized templates that identify key problem categories and provide a basic framework to evaluate systems — in essence, identifying individual patterns that make up the puzzle. They are defined in terms of “feedback loops”, often explicitly separating the “intended consequence (IC) loop” from the “unintended consequence (UC) loop.” Wolstenholme identifies four main archetypes: underachievement, out-of-control, relative achievement, and relative control (Figure 2). We will consider one: the aptly-named “out-of-control” archetype where an attempted solution to an existing problem causes negative amplification. For example, in business, a company with reduced profits cuts expenses to reduce costs (IC), but the lower investment leads to reduced productivity and further reduces profits (UC).

Figure 2: The four key types of systems archetypes

(based on [Wolstenholme, 2003])

Systems thinking can also be used in more novel applications like global health. For example, Figure 3 shows my simple visualization of looking at cancer through the lens of systems thinking. The human body undergoes apoptosis, or natural cell death, as a way of preventing overgrowth cells (IC), but if the cell mutates to silence the gene for apoptosis, cell growth is stimulated (UC), leading to cancer. The advantage of matching cancer to an out-of-control archetype in this manner is that it can enable researchers to leverage its appropriate solution archetype. In this case, this suggests creating a drug to silence the mutated cell.

Figure 3: My Systems Thinking Model for Understanding Cancer: cancer cell network and its individual interactions

While systems thinking itself isn’t new, its applications to global health are nascent. Bradley et al, for example, applied systems thinking, to develop the following model for policymakers to reason about Covid. Although it looks daunting, under the surface, this model is made up of the same archetypes mentioned earlier.

Figure 4: Systems thinking applied to understanding the COVID-19 response network [Bradley et. al., 2020].

For example, focusing on and around the central red loop, we see an out-of-control archetype again: Herd immunity can increase the number of people immune to covid, but an unintended side effect is that it involuntarily raises the number of covid cases (and deaths), increasing the stress on our health system. The solution archetype suggests increased vigilance through the vaccine rollout, including continuing to wear masks, and potential lockdowns, flattening the curve, and addressing the out-of-control archetype.

The Government of Ghana — in effect, using such networks to chart their vaccination process — noticed that remote parts of their nation were not getting necessary medical attention. By partnering with Zipline, a US-based drone company, they harnessed a large delivery network to deliver their PPEs to these remote locations, keeping their positive COVID case ratio to under 20% per day.

Many nations are following Ghana’s precedent: Rwanda and the US are among the few nations to adopt systems thinking frameworks, with both countries developing novel vaccination delivery methods. Systems thinking can help nations identify challenges in inpatient healthcare, hospital management, and can be used to identify ways in which nations can efficiently share resources with one another. With the WHO advocating for systems thinking in global healthcare, nations can expect even more novel innovations (like drone delivery, improved healthcare, etc.) in the future.

In closing, systems thinking offers a new, not as commonly explored, perspective into research in global health. Marrying ideas from business management and engineering with complex biological systems and societal trends can uncover new frontiers of innovation. We are in for an exciting future!

Bibliography

[Alon, 2020] Alon, U. Uri Alon Labs: Design Principles in Biology. Uri Alon Labs. https://www.weizmann.ac.il/mcb/UriAlon/.

[Bradley et al, 2020] Bradley, D. T., Mansouri, M. A., Kee, F., & Garcia, L. M. T. (2020a). A systems approach to preventing and responding to COVID-19. EClinicalMedicine Published by The Lancet Journal, 21, 1–2. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30069-9/fulltext

[Forrester, 1989] Forrester, J. (1989). (tech.). The Beginnings of Systems Dynamics (pp. 1–16). Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg: Systems Dynamics Society.

[Wanjek, 2011] Wanjek, C. (2011, November 7). Systems Biology as Defined by NIH. National Institutes of Health. https://irp.nih.gov/catalyst/v19i6/systems-biology-as-defined-by-nih.

[Wolstenholme, 2003] Wolstenholme, E. (2003). (publication). Towards the definition and use of a Core Set of Archetypal Structures in System Dynamics (pp. 1–22). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.

[Wolos et al, 2020] Wołos, A., Roszak, R., Żądło-Dobrowolska, A., Beker, W., Mikulak-Klucznik, B., Spólnik, G., … Grzybowski, B. A. (2020, September 25). Synthetic connectivity, emergence, and self-regeneration in the network of prebiotic chemistry. Science. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6511/eaaw1955.