Disease Informatics

Abstract

The field of disease informatics around the world has focused on the application of information technology to understand and prevent disease outbreaks. The recent Ebola outbreak has again pointed out our deficiencies in the proper management and vaccination practices around the world in situations of a pandemic disease. However analyses at the molecular level targeting the proteins and other immune system components provide us with the opportunity to identify effective targets for small molecule-based targeting as well as to understand the biology of the disease. Several therapeutic approaches around the world are being explored. Starting from traditional chemical medicine to ethnomedicinal practices, small molecule compound libraries are being screened using virtual screening procedures for the quest to identify and predict lead molecules of the future having limited side effects but increased efficacy. Apart from small molecule-based therapeutic strategies, oligonucleotide- and aptamer-based strategies are also being explored which enables us to directly interfere with the genome function of a particular pathogen. Combinatorial libraries and high-throughput practices such as next-generation sequencing have also accelerated the discovery of information and genetic medicine or personalized medicine which looked like a distant dream a few years back but is gradually transforming into reality. In this era of information generation, at the big data level, it is imperative that informatics-based strategies be explored and utilized fully so as to manage and analyze information in real time. Bioinformatics and clinical informatics approaches are continuously being utilized for providing patient health-care support, and scientists around the globe are working round the clock to tackle diseases from the epidemiological, molecular, and post-medical phases. Basic science research investigating the biology of the diseases is also being funded since it forms the stepping stones on which the entire discipline of disease informatics stands firm. This chapter deals with three different diseases (Parkinson’s disease, influenza, and AIDS (caused by HIV 1)) and how various bioinformatics approaches help us to understand the biology of the disease and its effects. Each case study provides a putative translational output of the disease management which can be utilized by researchers in the clinical trial phase.