Barabási Lab
Network-based embedding of all human proteins using machine learning. It is symbolic how the targets of the COVID-19 virus, highlighted in red, wrap around the whole human interactome. Image by Marinka Zitnik.
In a proof of principle groundbreaking work, a group of Network Medicine scientists and clinicians lead by Professors Albert-László Barabási and Joseph Loscalzo (founders of the field of network medicine) using the tools of Network Medicine.
They identified the human tissues that express the proteins needed by the virus (those that are needed for a statistically significant viral module, following Kitsak et al.).
These are the tissues/organs that could be invaded by the virus.
The insights that are evolving from these lines of studies utilizing Network Medicine are establishing preliminary predictive pipelines of distinct drug-repurposing that can be applied to SARS-CoV-2 infection.