Scientific evidence available on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that has caused the global outbreak of COVID-19, shows that the disease spreads through droplets launched from an infected person via coughing, sneezing, talking that land on a healthy person in close proximity (less than 6 feet). Epidemiological researchers have found social distancing measures to be very effective in containing the spread of virus in the absence of a proven cure or vaccine.

A classic challenge in biology is to study the function of proteins. Of various functions, essential functions are very interesting, as they map to important indispensable genes in an organism. Experimentally identifying these genes is rather expensive and challenging. Computational predictions can help point in the right direction, to prioritise experiments. To date, experimental data are available for <100 organisms! On the other hand, sequencing data are available for 1000s of organisms, as also interactome (networks of interactions) data.