MOLECULAR GENETICS TESTING

Course overview

THE FIELD OF MOLECULAR GENETIC AND GENOMIC TESTING IS UNDERGOING RAPID CHANGE DUE TO IMPROVEMENTS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MOLECULAR CAUSES OF BOTH UNCOMMON AND COMMON ILLNESSES, AS WELL AS IN DNA ANALYSIS TECHNOLOGIES. MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS (MDX) DEALS WITH HUMAN, VIRAL, AND MICROBIAL GENOMES AS WELL AS THE PRODUCTS THEY ENCODE. MOLECULAR GENETICS UTILIZES THE LABORATORY TOOLS OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TO RELATE CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE AND SEQUENCE OF HUMAN GENES TO FUNCTIONAL CHANGES IN PROTEIN FUNCTION AND, ULTIMATELY, TO HEALTH AND DISEASE. THIS ACTIVITY REVIEWS VARIOUS METHODS FOR MOLECULAR DIAGNOSIS, SPECIMEN COLLECTION, PROCEDURES, INDICATIONS, POTENTIAL DIAGNOSIS, NORMAL AND CRITICAL FINDINGS, INTERFERING FACTORS, AND COMPLICATIONS.