Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39804261›Full record

ReviewThe Journal of general virology2025

Unveiling the ghost: machine learning's impact on the landscape of virology.

Sebastian Bowyer, David J Allen, Nicholas Furnham

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in The Journal of general virology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Sebastian BowyerDepartment of Infection Biology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
David J AllenDepartment of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Section Infection and Immunity, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Nicholas FurnhamDepartment of Infection Biology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The complexity and speed of evolution in viruses with RNA genomes makes predictive identification of variants with epidemic or pandemic potential challenging. In recent years, machine learning has become an increasingly capable technology for addressing this challenge, as advances in methods and computational power have dramatically improved the performance of models and led to their widespread adoption across industries and disciplines. Nascent applications of machine learning technology to virus research have now expanded, providing new tools for handling large-scale datasets and leading to a reshaping of existing workflows for phenotype prediction, phylogenetic analysis, drug discovery and more. This review explores how machine learning has been applied to and has impacted the study of viruses, before addressing the strengths and limitations of its techniques and finally highlighting the next steps that are needed for the technology to reach its full potential in this challenging and ever-relevant research area.

Indexed as

Machine LearningVirologyVirusesComputational BiologyGenome, ViralHumansPhylogenydeep learningmachine learningRNA virusesSARS-CoV-2virus evolutionvirus phenotype prediction

Identifiers

PMID39804261
PMCPMC12451627

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.