Infectious Disease Research in the Era of Big Data

Abstract

Infectious disease research spans scales from the molecular to the global—from specific mechanisms of pathogen drug resistance, virulence, and replication to the movement of people, animals, and pathogens around the world. All of these research areas have been impacted by the recent growth of large-scale data sources and data analytics. Some of these advances rely on data or analytic methods that are common to most biomedical data science, while others leverage the unique nature of infectious disease, namely its communicability. This review outlines major research progress in the past few years and highlights some remaining opportunities, focusing on data or methodological approaches particular to infectious disease.