Distributed Systems and Automated Biodiversity Informatics: Genomic Analysis and Geographic Visualization of Disease Evolution.

A core mission in biodiversity informatics is to build a computing infrastructure for rapid, real-time analysis of biodiversity information. We have created the information technology to mine, analyze, interpret and visualize how diseases are evolving across the globe. The system rapidly collects the newest and most complete data on dangerous strains of viruses that are able to infect human and animal populations. Following completion, the system will also test whether positions in the genome are under positive selection or purifying selection, a useful feature to monitor functional genomic charac-teristics such as, drug resistance, host specificity, and transmissibility. Our system΄s persistent monitoring and reporting of the distribution of dangerous and novel viral strains will allow for better threat forecasting. This information system allows for greatly increased efficiency in tracking the evolution of disease threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]