In 2013 Genome Medicine will launch a new thematic series focusing on Microbes in health and disease. This series will highlight advances in genome-scale and other ‘omic approaches for studying infectious diseases, the role of the microbiome in health and disease, and how such information can be applied to medicine. The issue will be guest edited by Martin Hibberd (London School Of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Genome Institute of Singapore).

Genome sequencing, genome-scale research and high-throughput technologies are now allowing rapid investigations of the diverse and complex roles of microbes in human health and disease. Microbial genomes can now be sequenced so quickly that infectious disease outbreaks can be investigated in real-time to identify pathogens and carriers and allow efficient control of infection.  These approaches are also transforming our understanding of how interactions between the host and the infecting or resident microbes can affect human health.  Such advances are expected to revolutionize the field, allowing more effective and targeted interventions for personalized medicine and public health.

Publication of original research articles will be accompanied by a series of commissioned Reviews and Opinions written by leaders in the field including Patrick Tang (BC Centre for Disease Control, Canada), Nevan Krogan (University of California San Francisco, USA), Mark Pallen (University of Birmingham, UK) and Tim Anderson (Texas Biomedical Research Institute, USA).

The editors of Genome Medicine are now accepting submissions of Research, Method, Database, Software and Open Debate manuscripts for this new series.  We welcome submissions across the field, including but not limited to genome-scale research in the following areas:

• Microbial genomics in health and/or disease
• Human genomics and infectious disease
• The human microbiome in health and/or disease
• Advances in high-throughput technologies and metagenomic approaches
• Antimicrobial therapies and drug resistance
• Bioinformatic or systems approaches to understand human-microbial interactions or infectious diseases
• Ethics and regulation of new approaches or testing

Please submit manuscripts for consideration using our online system, and indicate in your covering letter that you would like the manuscript to be considered for the Microbes in health and disease series.  For more information please email editorial@genomemedicine.com