Systems Biological Approaches In Infectious Diseases

This book brings together the various fields of functional genomics and systems biology that provide information on metabolic function. There is special emphasis on the identification of drug targets. The book includes practical examples from the various "omic" sciences as well as theoretical examples of how integrated knowledge of these sciences can be applied to drug discovery. It is of interest to researchers in the pharmaceutical drug discovery environment.

First, systems biology is an inter-disciplinary approach, requiring the combined talents of biologists, mathematicians, and computer scientists. Second, systems biology is holistic, with the goal of obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the workings of biological systems. This is achieved through the acquisition of massive amounts of data by high-throughput technologies—oligonucleotide microarrays, mass spectrometry, and next-generation sequencing—and the analysis of this data through sophisticated mathematical algorithms. It is perhaps the use of mathematics, to integrate abundant and diverse types of data and to generate models of interconnected molecular networks, that best characterizes systems biology.

Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases is at the crossroads between two major scientific fields of the 21st century: evolutionary biology and infectious diseases. The genomic revolution has upset modern biology and has revolutionized our approach to ancient disciplines such as evolutionary studies. In particular, this revolution is profoundly changing our view on genetically driven human phenotypic diversity, and this is especially true in disease genetic susceptibility. Infectious diseases are indisputably the major challenge of medicine. When looking globally, they are the number one killer of humans and therefore the main selective pressure exerted on our species. Even in industrial countries, infectious diseases are now far less under control than 20 years ago. The first part of this book covers the main features and applications of modern technologies in the study of infectious diseases. The second part provides detailed information on a number of the key infectious diseases such as malaria, SARS, avian flu, HIV, tuberculosis, nosocomial infections and a few other pathogens that will be taken as examples to illustrate the power of modern technologies and the value of evolutionary approaches. Takes an integrated approach to infectious diseases Includes contributions from leading authorities Provides the latest developments in the field

Many potential applications of synthetic and systems biology are relevant to the challenges associated with the detection, surveillance, and responses to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. On March 14 and 15, 2011, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Forum on Microbial Threats convened a public workshop in Washington, DC, to explore the current state of the science of synthetic biology, including its dependency on systems biology; discussed the different approaches that scientists are taking to engineer, or reengineer, biological systems; and discussed how the tools and approaches of synthetic and systems biology were being applied to mitigate the risks associated with emerging infectious diseases. The Science and Applications of Synthetic and Systems Biology is organized into sections as a topic-by-topic distillation of the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop. Its purpose is to present information from relevant experience, to delineate a range of pivotal issues and their respective challenges, and to offer differing perspectives on the topic as discussed and described by the workshop participants. This report also includes a collection of individually authored papers and commentary.