What is "toponomics"

Toponomics is a discipline in systems biology, molecular cell biology, and histology. It concerns the study of the toponome of organisms. The toponome is the spatial network code of proteins and other biomolecules in morphologically intact cells and tissues. The terms toponome and toponomics were introduced by Walter Schubert in 2003 based on observations with imaging cycler microscopes (ICM). The term “toponome” is derived from the ancient Greek nouns “topos” (τόπος; place, position) and “nomos” (νόμος; law). Hence the term toponomics is descriptive term addressing the fact that the spatial network of biomolecules in cells follows topological rules enabling coordinated actions. This spatial organization is directly revealed by imaging cycler microscopy with parameter- and dimension-unlimited functional resolution. The resulting toponome structures are hierarchically organized and can be described by a three symbol code. Toponomics is the field of study that has at its goal to decode the complete toponome in health and disease (The human toponome project) – the next big challenge in human biotechnology after having decoded the human genome.