Infectious diseases continue to heavily burden our global society. Chronic viral infections, including those caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), currently afflict more than 500 million people worldwide, cumulatively resulting in more than 3.5 million deaths per year. Bacterial and parasitic diseases have a similarly high impact; Mycobacterium tuberculosis frequently establishes persistent infections, with an estimated 2 billion carriers around the globe and an annual mortality of close to 1.7 million individuals. Endemic and epidemic malaria results in severe disease in an estimated half-a-billion people each year, and causes over 1.5 million deaths annually. Although progress has been made in the prevention and treatment of these infections, more effective, tolerable, and affordable therapies are urgently needed.