Next generation approaches to study virus entry and infection

As obligate intracellular parasites viruses rely on host cell factors and functions for all stages of infection, from entry to spread. Characterization of these cellular components is critical to advance our understanding of the infection process and develop novel means to combat viral pathogens. To this end, the recent application of next generation approaches including compound screening, cell-targeting RNA interference, gene knockouts, and several proteomics approaches has served to expand our understanding of virus-host interactions, and facilitated the discovery of potential anti-viral targets. Here we review recent progress in the use of these next generation approaches and discuss their challenges, pitfalls, and potential applications for the study of virus-host interplay.