This sequence also illustrates the open/discovery philosophy of proteomics, wherein differences between samples are detected before the protein is identified, which is diametrically opposite to hypothesis-led reductionist designs where the target of interest must be defined a priori.
Microfluidic devices could be used to design reductionist models of vascular biology, such as to recapitulate fluid flow found in in vivo conditions.
Still, designers often apply exclusively reductionist approaches to generate designs.
Historically, these reductionist systems have not been designed to mimic the temporally and spatially complex interactions observed during endogenous T cell-APC contact, which include receptor organization at both micro- and nanoscales and dynamic changes in cell and membrane morphologies.
This partly reflects the experimental designs most accessible for reductionist models (that is, adding recombinant cytokines to purified, naïve cells to track polarization).
This is farcically weak evidence, blatantly unfit for purpose, absurdly reductionist.
A reductionist approach does not provide the information required for designing peptide immunogens that will elicit neutralizing rather than non-neutralizing antibody responses.
In the context of minimal systems design, there are two areas in which the reductionist approach has been particularly successful: studies of molecular motors on cytoskeletal filaments, and of protein lipid interactions in model membranes.
However, as with any reductionist investigation of complex biology, good scientific judgement in experimental design and educated peer review will remain critical to the longevity of findings inferred from microengineered technologies.
