Jessica D Tenenbaum, James J Cimino, David A Dorr, Peter J Embí, Genevieve Melton-Meaux, Marylyn D Ritchie, Mark G Weiner, Charles P Friedman
{"title":"Informatics Infrastructure for the Learning Health System.","authors":"Jessica D Tenenbaum, James J Cimino, David A Dorr, Peter J Embí, Genevieve Melton-Meaux, Marylyn D Ritchie, Mark G Weiner, Charles P Friedman","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092624-103225","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092624-103225","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The learning health system (LHS) paradigm focuses on generation of new knowledge based on analysis of data collected during clinical care, as well as continuous improvement of the healthcare system based on the application of that knowledge and accompanying insights. Informatics provides both the infrastructure that makes an LHS possible and the engine that drives it forward, playing a central role at each step of the LHS cycle. In this review we begin by describing the origin and foundations of the LHS. We then examine the role of informatics and data science across all aspects of the LHS cycle. We contextualize the technical aspects of the LHS through the lens of governance and culture change. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of unresolved challenges and future directions.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"285-309"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147783283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Geng Wang, Lavinia Paternoster, Nicole M Warrington
{"title":"Statistical Methods for Understanding Trajectories in Genetic Epidemiology.","authors":"Geng Wang, Lavinia Paternoster, Nicole M Warrington","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-035434","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-035434","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genetic influences on how human traits change over time remain underexplored and may play an important role in disease processes. In this review, we explore emerging statistical approaches for incorporating longitudinal data on trait trajectories into genetic epidemiology studies, including longitudinal genome-wide association studies, polygenic scores, and Mendelian randomization. We discuss the caution required when analyzing longitudinal data focused on disease progression, where analyses are conducted within a group of patients rather than the general population. Finally, we outline the large longitudinal data resources that are available and discuss future directions in trajectory-based genetic epidemiological studies. Embracing time as a critical dimension of human traits offers deeper insight into disease pathways and intervention opportunities.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"69-92"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147515301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sex and the Genome: Divergent Genetic Architecture Across the Human Lifespan.","authors":"Jagyashila Das, Pauline Gachanja, Aisha Sallah, Ankita Jain, Yogasudha Veturi, Rachel L Kember, Shefali Setia Verma","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-060518","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-060518","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Males and females share nearly identical genomes yet exhibit profound differences in disease susceptibility, progression, and treatment response across the lifespan. These sex differences arise from evolutionary conflicts in which genetic variants confer opposing fitness effects between sexes, maintained by balancing selection. This review examines how sex shapes complex trait architecture from early childhood through postreproductive life. Early childhood reveals intrinsic genetic sexual dimorphism before hormonal activation. During reproductive years, sex-specific metabolic programming manifests through divergent adipose distribution and cardiometabolic risk, while autoimmune diseases demonstrate a fourfold female bias driven by incomplete X-inactivation. Postreproductive phases reveal antagonistic pleiotropy, in which variants that are beneficial for early reproduction increase late-life disease vulnerability. Systematic exclusion of X chromosome data from ∼75% of genome-wide association studies has obscured critical therapeutic targets. Sex-stratified genomic analyses consistently uncover effect sizes and risk loci that are invisible in sex-combined models. We argue that precision medicine must incorporate sex as a fundamental axis of genomic stratification across development, rather than treating it as a covariate to be adjusted away.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"423-448"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147975951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S Trent Rosenbloom, A Jay Holmgren, Bryan D Steitz
{"title":"Building Toward a Future for Electronic Health Record Systems.","authors":"S Trent Rosenbloom, A Jay Holmgren, Bryan D Steitz","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-050949","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-050949","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Health information technology tools, including electronic health records, are ubiquitous in healthcare across the United States. Despite the promise and opportunity of these tools, their benefits have been uneven while also having the unintended consequence of imposing substantial administrative and documentation challenges that are often linked to clinician burnout. The adoption of these tools has been shaped by financial incentives, regulatory programs, and sociotechnical demands tied to reimbursement and quality measurement. Patient-facing technologies, including patient portals and remote monitoring, expand access and engagement, but there are disparities in patient use and they often create burden for clinicians. Advances in artificial intelligence, and particularly large language models, now enable automated documentation, ambient capture of clinical encounters, and clinical decision support-offering potential to reduce clinician burden and enhance care delivery. We envision a future of health information technology in which these tools are fully embedded and integrated into the clinical environment such that they streamline clinical work and workflow, optimize decision-making, and improve patient engagement.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"311-336"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147843588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Methods for Mapping and Analyzing Context-Specific Protein-Protein Interaction Networks.","authors":"Tavis J Reed","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-033748","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-033748","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) form highly dynamic and context-specific networks that vary across cell types and perturbation states. Mapping and understanding these context-dependent interactomes are essential for unraveling cellular organization and function. This review examines computational and experimental approaches for mapping and analyzing context-specific PPI networks. Computational methods refine global interactomes using context-specific expression data, literature curation, or machine learning-based integration of omics datasets, thereby constructing interactomes that consist of both physical and functional associations. Experimental approaches, including crosslinking mass spectrometry, cofractionation mass spectrometry, and denaturation-based mass spectrometry methods, directly capture physical PPIs within defined biological contexts. This review further discusses analytical frameworks for extracting biological insights from these networks, including protein complex detection, network embedding, differential analysis, functional module detection, and biomarker discovery. Finally, future directions are highlighted involving multiomic integration, enhanced spatial and temporal resolution, and artificial intelligence-driven network interpretation for further enriching the biological insights that can be obtained from context-specific PPI networks.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"171-196"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147783346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julian Daniel Sunday Willett, JangKeun Kim, Anurag Sakharkar, Jiwoon Park, Akua A Agyemang, Eyup Alper Saygili, Jacqueline Proszynski, Theodore M Nelson, Christopher E Mason
{"title":"The Data Science of Health in Space.","authors":"Julian Daniel Sunday Willett, JangKeun Kim, Anurag Sakharkar, Jiwoon Park, Akua A Agyemang, Eyup Alper Saygili, Jacqueline Proszynski, Theodore M Nelson, Christopher E Mason","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-045605","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-045605","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spaceflight exposes humans to unique stressors that remodel biology. Space health is emerging as a data science discipline grounded in multiomic atlases, harmonized biobanks, and open, findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR)-aligned infrastructures. We review this ecosystem, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s GeneLab; the Open Science Data Repository, European Space Agency, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) platforms; the Space Omics and Medical Atlas; and mission-specific repositories, and how it is used to integrate heterogeneous omics with clinical, environmental, and digital phenotypes. We highlight machine learning and causal inference approaches to identify conserved signatures of risk and resilience and to align astronaut datasets with large terrestrial cohorts and disease models. Spaceflight functions as an accelerated model of aging and systems-level stress, enabling discovery of biomarkers and countermeasures with reciprocal benefits for Earth-based medicine. Finally, we outline future directions, including countermeasure-prioritization pipelines; astronaut digital twins and virtual organs; operational analytics and wearables for personalized risk management; and federated, privacy-preserving data ecosystems that extend predictive, individualized space health to the operational edge.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"359-378"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147975908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparative Oncology: Evolutionary Perspectives, Emerging Discoveries, and Analytical Advances.","authors":"Vahid Nikoonejad Fard, Marc Tollis","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-030138","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-030138","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cancer is an evolutionary inevitability of multicellularity that emerges when cooperative cellular networks collapse into competition for survival and replication. Despite decades of extensive research, progress in cancer treatment remains limited, partly because of the lack of an interdisciplinary perspective and an overreliance on murine models that fail to capture the full evolutionary spectrum and dynamics of oncogenesis. Comparative oncology is an interdisciplinary field that offers an eco-evolutionary framework to address these challenges by examining variation in cancer prevalence and defense mechanisms across the tree of life. In this review, we first explain why adopting an evolutionary lens is essential for understanding the challenge of cancer. Then, we review recent discoveries on genomic and life history determinants of cancer prevalence, remarkable species-specific cancer defense mechanisms, and methodological advances in analyzing cross-species cancer data. Insights from these findings can ultimately inform human cancer research and guide future directions in biodiversity conservation.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"117-140"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147692594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Toward Quantitative Domain-Motif Interactomes: State of the Art, Challenges, and Perspectives.","authors":"Jesús Alvarado Valverde, Katja Luck","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092624-110614","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092624-110614","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) drive cellular function. Obtaining quantitative maps of protein interactomes is essential for linking genotype to phenotype and predicting cellular outcomes. A large fraction of PPIs are mediated by domain-motif interactions (DMIs), where motifs within intrinsically disordered regions bind to structured domains in partner proteins. These transient and low-affinity interactions play central roles in regulatory and cell signaling processes, and their disruption has been linked to disease. However, due to their transient and dynamic nature, systematic experimental characterization of DMIs has been challenging. Recent advances in high-throughput experimental technologies and machine learning are transforming our ability to map and predict DMIs on a proteome-wide scale. Here, we review the molecular characteristics of motifs, domains, and their interactions; discuss emerging experimental and computational approaches for their discovery; and outline current challenges and future directions toward quantitative DMI interactomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"337-357"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147975910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Large Language Models in Mental Health Research and Treatment.","authors":"Steven Mesquiti, Erik C Nook","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092524-113527","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092524-113527","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mental health challenges add immensely to the global burden of disease, yet traditional approaches to psychological assessment and care remain resource intensive and often inaccessible. There is widespread interest in testing whether advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models (LLMs), could address these constraints. This review focuses on LLMs, given the field's explosive interest in testing whether their ability to generate context-sensitive language representations can aid large-scale assessment and intervention. We synthesize recent applications of LLMs, including language-based assessment of psychopathology, digital phenotyping, electronic health record analysis, and early integrations into psychotherapy. However, we highlight deep challenges of AI that loom large in the highly sensitive space of mental health treatment, including clear risks of bias, hallucinations, inappropriate (or even dangerous) therapeutic recommendations, and limited regulatory oversight. We conclude with future directions that are critical for the safe and equitable use of LLMs in mental health.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"379-402"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147975924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fold-Switching Proteins Push the Boundaries of Conformational Ensemble Prediction.","authors":"Myeongsang Lee, Lauren L Porter","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092524-114822","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092524-114822","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A protein's function depends critically on its conformational ensemble, a collection of energy-weighted structures whose balance depends on temperature and environment. Though recent deep learning methods have substantially advanced predictions of single protein structures, computationally modeling conformational ensembles remains a challenge. Here, we focus on modeling fold-switching proteins, which remodel their secondary and/or tertiary structures and change their functions in response to cellular stimuli. These underrepresented members of the protein universe serve as test cases for a method's generalizability. They reveal that deep learning models often predict conformational ensembles by association with training set structures, which limits generalizability. These observations suggest use cases for when deep learning methods will likely succeed or fail. Developing computational methods that successfully identify new fold-switching proteins from large pools of candidates may advance modeling conformational ensembles more broadly.</p>","PeriodicalId":29775,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science","volume":" ","pages":"403-422"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147975935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}