Preface

The life sciences domain has entered a new paradigm shift when the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. In this regard, bioscientists worldwide were forced to accelerate their research efforts to a new level, as the world is desperately waiting for the development of the drug and vaccine to deter the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Up to this day, we have observed more than 3.3 million mortalities worldwide, and in many countries, their public health systems have been under the extra burden with almost all of their ICU beds occupied. However, as we learn that many health-related problems, such as malnutrition, could be resolved with advances in life sciences, such as the development of bioinformatics and nutrigenomics, we have a high hope that the latest breakthrough in this area could also assist us against this pandemic. Luckily, there are hopes in the air.

Right before the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the WHO, life sciences have incited novel areas of studies that revolutionize the health sector. They are the studies of structural bioinformatics, pharmacogenomics, and metabolomics. The structural bioinformatics field is the very foundation of the drug design research, as it provides insight into the molecular simulations and interactions between the biomolecules and the drug candidates. Secondly, pharmacogenomics is the starting point of any efforts in developing personalized medicine. Lastly, metabolomics provides instrumentation to elicit biomarkers for various diseases and health conditions. These studies have enabled current accelerated effort in COVID-19 research, as well as other diseases.

This book is mainly divided into two sections. The first one, "Omics Studies in Drug Design", discusses with a focus on pharmacogenomics and parts of metabolomics studies, mainly lipoproteomics and probiogenomics. In the second one, "Rational Drug Design", structural bioinformatics, and pharmaceutical chemistry experts collaborate and provide their insight into various diseases such as cancer. Their contributions are paramount to the studies of life sciences and enable further progress for eradicating life-threatening diseases such as COVID-19 and cancer.

To this end, although the world is currently ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, other kinds of diseases still stay with us. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is not over yet; tuberculosis is threatening us with antibiotic-resistant strains; cardiovascular disease is still considered the primary course of mortality in many countries; and not to mention there are still other noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and neurological disorders. With so many challenges ahead of us, it is expected that the scientific breakthrough, as elicited in this book, will eventually shed light on how to eradicate, or at least tame, those maladies and provide hope to humanity.

> **Arli Aditya Parikesit** Head of Bioinformatics Department, School of Life Sciences, Indonesia International Institute for Life Sciences (I3L), Indonesia

**1**

Section 1

Omics Studies in Drug

Design
