Pre-clinical medicine: basic sciences

Applying neurophysiological methods to the study of brain-behavior relationships proved to be a major advance in the early days of neuroscience research.

Despite the many milestones in cystic fibrosis (CF) research, progress toward curing the disease has been slow, and it is increasingly difficult to grasp and use the already wide and still growing range of diverse methods currently employed to study CF so as to understand it in its multidisciplinary nature.

Now a major approach in the identification of certain gene product functions, reverse chemical genetics allows the identification of target genes to precede phenotypic changes created by specific small molecules.

Extensive studies have been conducted on the identification, biogenesis, and processing of microRNA (miRNA) as well as research on the exact mechanism by which miRNAs bring about translational silencing of their targets.

Arthritis Research: Methods and Protocols is a compendium of data pertinent to the methods and protocols that have contributed to recent advances in molecular medicine in general, but to the molecular basis of rheumatic disease in particular.

PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are the third and most-recently discovered group of silencing-inducible small RNAs in animals.

The rapid pace of microRNA (miRNA) research continues to drive the advances of techniques for miRNA expression profiling, and innovative technologies that are more sensitive, specific, quantitative, and that are compatible with a wide range of biospecimens have been developed during the past few years.

Continued refinement of wide-spread access to transgenic technology has allowed for new animal models have been developed that exhibit features of autoimmune disease have been developed that exhibit features of autoimmune disease.

Molecular Toxicology Protocols, Second Edition aims to bring together a series of articles describing validated methods to elucidate specific molecular aspects of toxicology, the emphasis being on the application of molecular methods to genetic toxicology.

Homing Endonucleases: Methods and Protocols aims at providing molecular biologists with a comprehensive resource to identify and characterize homing endonucleases from genomic sequence, to deduce the biological basis of binding and cleavage specificity, as well as to provide protocols to redesign endonuclease target specificity for genome-editing applications.

Evolving technologies starting with tracer studies, and more recently with genomics and proteomics, have provided novel information about the molecular properties of cerebral endothelium and astrocytes; however, further studies must be done in animal models of neurological diseases and in humans to get a clearer understanding of the pathogenesis of blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown in nervous system diseases.

Population genomics is a recently emerged discipline, which aims at understanding how evolutionary processes influence genetic variation across genomes.

Despite the best efforts of many and despite landmark discoveries and experimental ingenuity, challenges in the pursuit of research related to olfactory receptors (ORs) continue to exist.

Due to the vital biological importance of RNA and proteins functioning together within a cell, a protocol volume describing experimental procedures to study their interactions should find a home in many laboratories.

In the past decade, molecular biology has been transformed from the art of cloning a single gene to a statistical science measuring and calculating properties of entire genomes.

Microarrays for simultaneous measurement of redundancy of RNA species are used in fundamental biology as well as in medical research.

Recent stem cell research has revealed that miRNA and RNAi-mediated gene regulation is one of the vital determinates controlling the state of cell differentiation, with the small RNAs serving as key elements involved in regulatory network control of pluripotent cell fate determination.

The aim of Single Cell Diagnostics: Methods and Protocols is for all readers to extend their knowledge and expertise in analysis of single cells.

The generation of genetically modified mice is absolutely crucial to gene function studies today, primarily because mice are genetically similar to man and because gene function studies in mice are in the context of a whole organism, making them particularly useful.

Focusing on in vitro and intracellular RNA structure formation, RNA Folding: Methods and Protocols provides a comprehensive collection of experimental protocols which are suitable to dissect RNA folding pathways and to characterize the structure of RNA folding intermediates at nucleotide or even atomic resolution.

Research into ancient DNA began more than 25 years ago with the publication of short mitochondrial DNA sequence fragments from the quagga, an extinct relative of the zebra.

The past decade has seen the emergence of a new field of scientific inquiry at the intersection of phylogenetics and genomics: phylogenomics.

Since the publication of the popular first edition, the explosion of DNA sequence information, the access to bioinformatics and mutation databases coupled with the ability to readily detect and confirm mutations has cemented the role of molecular diagnostics in medicine and, in particular, mutation detection by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Pyrosequencing(R) Protocols presents detailed protocols for the multidisciplinary application of Pyrosequencing(R) technology, all written by world-renowned experts in the field.

Recent efforts to characterize genetic variation in the human genome, coupled with the rapidly developing field of genomics, have lead directly to the development of new and innovative approaches to the identification of genes contributing to complex human diseases.

Many unexplored complex cellular and organismal adaptations occur in response to the stress of alcohol exposure, and its contribution to the development of chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis, heart disease and diabetes, is particularly relevant today, given the increased incidence of these diseases in our aging population.

microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate various biological phenomena, such as development and homeostasis.

DNA microarray technology has revolutionized research in the past decade.

Forty years after the term "e;affinity chromatography"e; was introduced, this mode of chromatography remains a key tool in the armory of separation techniques that are available to separation and interaction scientists.

Microarray Technology, Volumes 1 and 2, present information in designing and fabricating arrays and binding studies with biological analytes while providing the reader with a broad description of microarray technology tools and their potential applications.

During the 20th century Xenopus has flourished as an accessible experimental model system for studying vertebrate biology.

Recent developments in microarray technology have changed the landscape of biology and biomedical research, and they have revolutionized RNA and DNA research.

Immunologists today are interested in all of the diverse cell-types involved in host defense and have a deeper appreciation of the importance of innate immune mechanisms as a first line of protection against pathogens.

Due in part to the selective nature of telomerase inhibition as an anticancer approach, the field has expanded considerably in the past decade.

Mitochondria: Practical Protocols offers a broad collection of methods for studying the molecular biology, function, and features of mitochondria.

Microbial Gene Essentiality: Protocols and Bioinformatics contains a comprehensive collection of experimental and computational strategies and techniques for microbial genome-scale essentiality studies, developed and presented by the leading groups in the field.

Over the last two decades advances in genotyping technology, and the development of quantitative genetic analytical techniques have made it possible to dissect complex traits and link quantitative variation in traits to allelic variation on chromosomes or quantitative trait loci (QTLs).

Gene expression can mean the difference between a functional and non-functional genome, between health and disease, and with the development of transgenic crops, the difference between survival and starvation.

Blood samples have consistently proven to be a key source of genetic material for a wide variety of diagnostic or research purposes.

Ever since their discovery more than 150 years ago, astrocytes have proved to be something of an enigma.

Cardiac Gene Expression: Methods and Protocols presents both cutting-edge and established methods for studying cardiac gene expression.

Capillary Electrophoresis: Methods and Protocols presents a selection of current capillary electrophoresis methods used to separate representative types of molecules and particles and in combination with different detection techniques.

Significant DNA sequence data has been made available by several important genome projects.

In Tiling Arrays: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field detail many of the methods which are now commonly used to study tiling microarrays in genomic discovery .

New and exciting biological functions are still being discovered for vitamin A derivatives, including the vast number of physiological activities of retinoids.

concerns within the pharmaceutical industry about generating data that might be difficult to interpret in a regulated environment.

Molecular biology has transformed prenatal diagnosis because it permits an accurate diagnosis to be made from very small quantities of fetal material, even single cells.

The rapid progression of genetics and molecular biology has turned chromosomal engineering from science fiction to reality, with the successful production of transgenic animals with engineered chromosomes and chromosomes developed for pharmaceutical protein production which are now ready for the medical industry.