Systems Biology and Infectious Diseases

Abstract

This chapter reports a variety of molecular biology informatics and mathematical methods that model the cell response to pathogens. The authors first outline the main steps of the immune response, then list the high throughput biotechnologies, generating a wealth of information on the infected cell and some of the immune-related databases; and finally explain how to extract meaningful information from these sources. The modelling aspect is divided into modelling molecular interaction and regulatory networks, through dynamic Boolean and Bayesian models, and modelling biochemical networks and regulatory networks, through Differential/Difference Equations. The interdisciplinary approach explains how to construct a model that mimics the cell’s dynamics and can predict the evolution and the outcome of infection.