title: Image-based systems biology of infection.
abstract: The successful treatment of infectious diseases requires interdisciplinary studies of all aspects of infection processes. The overarching combination of experimental research and theoretical analysis in a systems biology approach can unravel mechanisms of complex interactions between pathogens and the human immune system. Taking into account spatial information is especially important in the context of infection, since the migratory behavior and spatial interactions of cells are often decisive for the outcome of the immune response. Spatial information is provided by image and video data that are acquired in microscopy experiments and that are at the heart of an image-based systems biology approach. This review demonstrates how image-based systems biology improves our understanding of infection processes. We discuss the three main steps of this approach--imaging, quantitative characterization, and modeling--and consider the application of these steps in the context of studying infection processes. After summarizing the most relevant microscopy and image analysis approaches, we discuss ways to quantify infection processes, and address a number of modeling techniques that exploit image-derived data to simulate host-pathogen interactions in silico.
authors: Applied Systems Biology, HKI-Center for Systems Biology of Infection, Leibniz-Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans-Knöll-Institute (HKI), Jena, Germany.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Medyukhina
authors: Applied Systems Biology, HKI-Center for Systems Biology of Infection, Leibniz-Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans-Knöll-Institute (HKI), Jena, Germany.|Applied Systems Biology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
authors: Sandra
authors: S
authors: Timme
authors: Applied Systems Biology, HKI-Center for Systems Biology of Infection, Leibniz-Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans-Knöll-Institute (HKI), Jena, Germany.|Applied Systems Biology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
authors: Zeinab
authors: Z
authors: Mokhtari
authors: Applied Systems Biology, HKI-Center for Systems Biology of Infection, Leibniz-Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans-Knöll-Institute (HKI), Jena, Germany.|Applied Systems Biology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
authors: Marc Thilo
authors: MT
authors: Figge
mesh_terms: D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000379:methods*
keywords: host-pathogen interactions; image analysis; infection; live-cell imaging; mathematical modeling; systems biology