The burden of infectious disease to human health is significant, with parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases representing six of the ten leading causes of mortality world-wide. A major obstacle to the development of new diagnostic, therapeutic and preventative tools to combat these infections is understanding the complexity of the disease processes at the molecular, cellular and organismal level. The CIDCATS programme addresses this challenge by providing graduate training in the quantitative skills required to develop iterative programmes of research that cross discipline boundaries. The last decade has been noted for the development of increasingly powerful experimental technologies (e.g. 2-photon imaging, gene expression analysis, proteomics) that are now providing extensive and detailed data characterizing the structure, dynamics and properties of biological systems. This opens up exciting opportunities for the development of novel data analysis and visualization methods and further, the modelling and simulation of the complex biomolecular and cellular processes that underlie infectious disease. The CIDCATS programme The CIDCATS (Combating Infectious Disease: Computational Approaches in Translational Science) interdisciplinary PhD Programme in Infectious Disease is funded by the Wellcome Trust. This four-year PhD training programme will provide students (including those with a strong background in a non-biological science, engineering or mathematics) with in-depth knowledge of infectious diseases and the interdisciplinary skills necessary to conduct research in one of the following three inter-related research themes, that are central to our ability to combat these infections: 1. Drug Target Development 2. Predictive Modelling of Pathogenesis and Treatment Response 3. Development of Novel Tools for Complex Data Analysis. The aim is to deliver the next generation of scientists who will drive quantitative biology to support interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences. To this end we will train five students per year for the next five years. (2011-2016)

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