title: Facing the challenges of multiscale modelling of bacterial and fungal pathogen-host interactions.
abstract: Recent and rapidly evolving progress on high-throughput measurement techniques and computational performance has led to the emergence of new disciplines, such as systems medicine and translational systems biology. At the core of these disciplines lies the desire to produce multiscale models: mathematical models that integrate multiple scales of biological organization, ranging from molecular, cellular and tissue models to organ, whole-organism and population scale models. Using such models, hypotheses can systematically be tested. In this review, we present state-of-the-art multiscale modelling of bacterial and fungal infections, considering both the pathogen and host as well as their interaction. Multiscale modelling of the interactions of bacteria, especially Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with the human host is quite advanced. In contrast, models for fungal infections are still in their infancy, in particular regarding infections with the most important human pathogenic fungi, Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus. We reflect on the current availability of computational approaches for multiscale modelling of host-pathogen interactions and point out current challenges. Finally, we provide an outlook for future requirements of multiscale modelling.
authors: Research Group Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knoell Institute Jena, Germany.
authors: Jana
authors: J
authors: Schleicher
authors: Research Group Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knoell Institute Jena, Germany.
authors: Theresia
authors: T
authors: Conrad
authors: Department of Cardiology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Mika
authors: M
authors: Gustafsson
authors: Integrative Systems Biology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.|Cell Biology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Gunnar
authors: G
authors: Cedersund
authors: Research Group Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knoell Institute Jena, Germany.
authors: Reinhard
authors: R
authors: Guthke
authors: Leibniz-Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knoell-Institute, Jena, Germany.
authors: Jörg
authors: J
authors: Linde
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D049490:Systems Biology
keywords: host–pathogen interaction; infection; mathematical modelling; multiscale modelling