Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to global public health. With the emergence of new resistant strains and limited antibiotic treatment options, it has become increasingly difficult to treat infections effectively. This is particularly concerning for bacterial infections like Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Acinetobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, where only a limited number of antibiotics are available for treatment. According to the US National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, approximately 2 million Americans are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and at least 23,000 die as a result. The situation is even worse in developing countries. Systems biology, which aims to understand the complex interactions between the different components of a biological system, has emerged as a powerful tool for studying AMR. By integrating data from multiple sources, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, systems biology can provide a comprehensive view of the mechanisms underlying AMR. This approach can lead to the identification of novel targets for drug development and the development of personalized treatment strategies that consider the specific characteristics of individual patients and the pathogens that infect them. This Research Topic aims to explore the potential of systems biology in combating antibiotic resistance, and highlight the need for further research to fully realize its clinical potential in infectious diseases.

Technological advances in generated molecular and cell biological data are transforming biomedical research. Sequencing, multi-omics and imaging technologies are likely to have deep impact on the future of medical practice. In parallel to technological developments, methodologies to gather, integrate, visualize and analyze heterogeneous and large-scale data sets are needed to develop new approaches for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Systems Medicine: Integrative, Qualitative and Computational Approaches is an innovative, interdisciplinary and integrative approach that extends the concept of systems biology and the unprecedented insights that computational methods and mathematical modeling offer of the interactions and network behavior of complex biological systems, to novel clinically relevant applications for the design of more successful prognostic, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. This 3 volume work features 132 entries from renowned experts in the fields and covers the tools, methods, algorithms and data analysis workflows used for integrating and analyzing multi-dimensional data routinely generated in clinical settings with the aim of providing medical practitioners with robust clinical decision support systems. Importantly the work delves into the applications of systems medicine in areas such as tumor systems biology, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases as well as immunology and infectious diseases amongst others. This is a fundamental resource for biomedical students and researchers as well as medical practitioners who need to need to adopt advances in computational tools and methods into the clinical practice. Encyclopedic coverage: ‘one-stop’ resource for access to information written by world-leading scholars in the field of Systems Biology and Systems Medicine, with easy cross-referencing of related articles to promote understanding and further research Authoritative: the whole work is authored and edited by recognized experts in the field, with a range of different expertise, ensuring a high quality standard Digitally innovative: Hyperlinked references and further readings, cross-references and diagrams/images will allow readers to easily navigate a wealth of information

The National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, published in 2014, sets out a plan for government work to mitigate the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. Direction on the implementation of this strategy is provided in five-year national action plans, the first covering 2015 to 2020, and the second covering 2020 to 2025. Combating Antimicrobial Resistance and Protecting the Miracle of Modern Medicine evaluates progress made against the national strategy. This report discusses ways to improve detection of resistant infections and estimate the risk to human health from environmental sources of resistance. In addition, the report considers the effect of agricultural practices on human and animal health and animal welfare and ways these practices could be improved, and advises on key drugs and diseases for which animal-specific test breakpoints are needed.

Humans coexist with millions of harmless microorganisms, but emerging diseases, resistance to antibiotics, and the threat of bioterrorism are forcing scientists to look for new ways to confront the microbes that do pose a danger. This report identifies innovative approaches to the development of antimicrobial drugs and vaccines based on a greater understanding of how the human immune system interacts with both good and bad microbes. The report concludes that the development of a single superdrug to fight all infectious agents is unrealistic.

Antibiotics represent one of the most successful forms of therapy in medicine. But the efficiency of antibiotics is compromised by the growing number of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Antibiotic resistance, which is implicated in elevated morbidity and mortality rates as well as in the increased treatment costs, is considered to be one of the major global public health threats (www.who.int/drugresistance/en/) and the magnitude of the problem recently prompted a number of international and national bodies to take actions to protect the public (http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/docs/road-map-amr_en.pdf: http://www.who.int/drugresistance/amr_global_action_plan/en/; http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/carb_national_strategy.pdf). Understanding the mechanisms by which bacteria successfully defend themselves against the antibiotic assault represent the main theme of this eBook published as a Research Topic in Frontiers in Microbiology, section of Antimicrobials, Resistance, and Chemotherapy. The articles in the eBook update the reader on various aspects and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. A better understanding of these mechanisms should facilitate the development of means to potentiate the efficacy and increase the lifespan of antibiotics while minimizing the emergence of antibiotic resistance among pathogens.

Years of using, misusing, and overusing antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs has led to the emergence of multidrug-resistant 'superbugs.' The IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats held a public workshop April 6-7 to discuss the nature and sources of drug-resistant pathogens, the implications for global health, and the strategies to lessen the current and future impact of these superbugs.

Many potential applications of synthetic and systems biology are relevant to the challenges associated with the detection, surveillance, and responses to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. On March 14 and 15, 2011, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Forum on Microbial Threats convened a public workshop in Washington, DC, to explore the current state of the science of synthetic biology, including its dependency on systems biology; discussed the different approaches that scientists are taking to engineer, or reengineer, biological systems; and discussed how the tools and approaches of synthetic and systems biology were being applied to mitigate the risks associated with emerging infectious diseases. The Science and Applications of Synthetic and Systems Biology is organized into sections as a topic-by-topic distillation of the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop. Its purpose is to present information from relevant experience, to delineate a range of pivotal issues and their respective challenges, and to offer differing perspectives on the topic as discussed and described by the workshop participants. This report also includes a collection of individually authored papers and commentary.