Medical BioMethods Handbook

John Walker and Ralph Rapley have collected a wide-ranging group of molecular and biochemical techniques that are the most frequently used in medical and clinical research, especially diagnostics. The authors-well-established investigators who run their own research programs and use the methods on a regular basis-outline the practical procedures for using them and describe a variety of pertinent applications. Among the technologies presented are southern and western blotting, electrophoresis, PCR, cDNA and protein microarrays, liquid chromatography, in situ hybridization, karyotyping, flow cytometry, bioinformatics, genomics, and ribotyping. The applications include assays for mutation detection, mRNA analysis, chromosome translocations, inborn errors of metabolism, protein therapeutics, and gene therapy.

Basic Techniques in Molecular Biology.- Probe Design, Production, and Applications.- Restriction Enzymes.- Southern Blotting as a Diagnostic Method.- Western Blotting as a Diagnostic Method.- Principles and Medical Applications of the Polymerase Chain Reaction.- Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) Analysis.- Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE).- Quantitative Analysis of DNA Sequences by PCR and Solid-Phase Minisequencing.- to Capillary Electrophoresis of DNA.- Mapping Techniques.- Dideoxyfingerprinting for Mutation Detection.- Conformation-Sensitive Gel Electrophoresis.- Amplification Refractory Mutation System and Molecular Diagnostics.- Ligase Chain Reaction.- Chemical Cleavage of Mismatch.- The Protein Truncation Test.- Linkage, Allele Sharing, and Association.- Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms.- cDNA Microarrays.- Nucleic Acid Sequence-Based Amplification.- Oligonucleotide Ligation Assay.- Quantitative TaqMan Real-Time PCR.- Use of Denaturing High-Performance Liquid Chromatography in Molecular Medicine.- Quantitative PCR.- Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry of Nucleic Acids.- Comparative Genomic Hybridization in Clinical and Medical Research.- Bioinformatic Tools for Gene and Protein Sequence Analysis.- In SituHybridization.- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay.- Protein Therapeutics.- Karyotyping.- Microsatellite Analysis.- Analysis of Chromosomal Translocations.- Differential Display.- Techniques for Gene Expression Profiling.- Capillary Electrophoresis in Clinical Analysis.- Flow Cytometry in the Biomedical Arena.- Immunocytochemistry.- Ribotyping in Clinical Microbiology.- Diagnostic Applications of Protein Microarrays.- The Human Genome Project.- Prenatal Diagnosis of Inborn Errors of Metabolism.- Gene Therapy.