Systems Biological Approaches in Infectious Diseases

Systems biology is an emerging discipline that studies the underlying network structure and the dynamics of metabolism, cells or whole organisms. It aims to investigate all interacting components simultaneously and requires data from high throughput techniques. These data from the "omic" sciences are computed and used to build in silico models of biological systems that ultimately will prove to be an invaluable tool in drug development. This book brings together the various fields of functional genomics and systems biology that provide information on metabolic function with a special emphasis on the identification of drug targets. It 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, as well as those in the academic field with an interest in the functional application of the "omic" sciences.