Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 29, 2026

Microfluidic Co-Culture Models for Dissecting the Immune Response in in vitro Tumor Microenvironments
Published on: April 30, 2021
The Four Horsemen of the 'Omicsalypse': ontology, replicability, probability and epistemology
1Penn State University, University park, PA, USA. kenweiss@psu.edu.
Abstract:
Much of modern genomics and the other 'omics' that tag along, assert that the causal bases of biomedical outcomes are genomically enumerable lists whose effects are predictable with 'precision', extensible from samples to all, and enabled by ever-greater hypothesis-free data accumulation. The assertion rests on fundamental, if often implicit assumptions, that (1) the phenomena are based on underlying law-like biological causation, and, therefore, are (2) replicable and (3) even if not deterministic, have specifiable, stable, essentially parametric, probabilities, all of which (4) essentially equates induction with deduction, enabling asymptotically accurate prediction based on past observation. These glowing promises are the four horsemen of a genocentric 'Omicsalypse'. But what if the assumptions are wrong or appropriate only to an extent that is unknowable, even in principle? Might there be better ways to understand complex traits?
More Related Videos
09:47DeepOmicsAE: Representing Signaling Modules in Alzheimer's Disease with Deep Learning Analysis of Proteomics, Metabolomics, and Clinical Data
Published on: December 15, 2023
05:47Evidence-based Knowledge Synthesis and Hypothesis Validation: Navigating Biomedical Knowledge Bases via Explainable AI and Agentic Systems
Published on: June 13, 2025
Related Concept Videos
Genomics
Scientific Laws and Theories
The Tree of Life - Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryotes
The Replisome
The synthesis of the leading and lagging strands is a highly coordinated process. To explain this, the “Trombone model” was proposed by Bruce Alberts in 1980. The DNA loop formation starts when a primer is synthesized on the parent lagging strand. The loop grows with the...
The Replisome
The synthesis of the leading and lagging strands is a highly coordinated process. To explain this, the “Trombone model” was proposed by Bruce Alberts in 1980. The DNA loop formation starts when a primer is synthesized on the parent lagging strand. The loop grows with the...
Causality in Epidemiology