The consecutive life science revolutions of molecular biology and genomic biology have led to the promise for improving human health by molecular-level interventions--but the accompanying challenge of doing so in a rational, predictive manner. Addressing this challenge, and meeting this promise, requires understanding of complex biological processes with molecular detail but in integrative fashion; the emerging field aimed at this endeavor is now commonly termed 'systems biology'. In many ways, this field is an ideal application area for the biological engineering discipline, and offers tremendous opportunities for biology-based engineers. This talk will present a view of key aspects of this vision.