Keynote II

Molecular epidemiology of viral infections is based on identifying genetic markers to assist in epidemiological investigation. Early molecular technologies were limited in its capacity and were dominated by analytical methodology focusing on the viral agent itself where computational technologies were almost exclusively used for phylogenetic inference. Embracing the approaches and achievements of molecular epidemiology, integrative molecular epidemiology of viral infections expands into a comprehensive analysis of factors involved into defining outcomes of exposure of a person or population of people to viral infections. The major emphasis of this scientific discipline is on the development of predictive models that can be used in different clinical and public health settings. Qualitative or modestly accurate quantitative models, however, can be used for guiding research. This presentation briefly reviews a few examples that illustrate new trends in integrative molecular epidemiology approaches striving to quantitatively define viral properties and parameters using primary structure of viral genomes. The promise and importance that such approaches hold for improving predictors of infection outcome are becoming perceivable with recent advances in high-performance computation technologies and provide opportunities for computational research.