In a publication in Molecular Systems Biology HPA related researchers review the recent application of AI and systems biology in integrating and interpreting multi-omics data and their contributions to drug discovery. The newly generated longitudinal multi-omics datasets that are needed for these analyses and to enhance precision health and medicine are also described.

Complex diseases arise from disruptions in biological processes, and uncovering the molecular mechanisms behind their initiation and progression is vital for advancing healthcare. Traditional medicine fails to address individual genetic, molecular, and environmental differences, limiting their effectiveness. This review discusses different aspects of how integration of multi-omics data, systems biology, artificial intelligence (AI), and lifestyle factors can help in the shift towards precision medicine approaches.

Systems biology allows the integration and interpretation of complex datasets, linking genes, proteins, metabolites, and environmental influences into coherent biological networks. In this review the generation and use of e.g. metabolic networks, protein-protein interaction networks and signaling networks are discussed and also how their integration can contribute to the development of translational medicine. The use and need for AI and LLMs in interpreting large multi-omics data is further described and exemplified by several applications ranging from structure prediction with AlphaFold to Alzheimer research and biomedical informatics underscoring the value of AI and multi-omics analyses in e.g. capturing and understanding the complexity of disease mechanisms.

The use of systems biology and AI in understanding health and disease relies on the availability of large multi-omics datasets. The generation of big biological data is further important for the creation of digital twins that may advance personalised medicine by integrating this data into patient-specific models. Some of the recent initiatives and providers of big biological data including UK genome project, HPA, The Anatolian precision medicine initiative, The Global 1 Million Phenome Initiative and The 10K study are also described.

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