Medical BioMethods Handbook / Edition 1

by John M. Walker, Ralph Rapley

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781588292889
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	03/18/2005
Series:	Methods in Molecular Biology Series
Edition description:	2005
Pages:	644
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.05(d)

Table of Contents

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.- Immunocyhemistry.- Ribotyping in Clinical Microbiology.- Diagnostic Applications of Protein Microarrays.- The Human Genome Project.- Prenatal Diagnosis of Inborn Errors of Metabolism.- Gene Therapy.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Eugene A Davidson, PhD (Georgetown University School of Medicine)
Description: This book contains a series of articles describing commonly used methods in medical laboratory work. The focus is on molecular biological techniques.
Purpose: The goal is to provide investigators (advanced students, research fellows, senior scientists) with information regarding commonly used techniques as applied to diagnostic procedures. Given the increasingly molecular approach to diagnostics, this is a worthwhile objective. Success is mixed in that presentations vary somewhat in quality and some areas have received insufficient attention.
Audience: The target audience is the working scientist interested in specific applications. The editors have assembled a capable group of contributors.
Features: There has been an increasing shift in medical diagnostics from the relatively descriptive nature of histology through data sets obtained from multichannel analyzers to specific molecular information at the DNA level. It can reasonably be anticipated that this will continue and that there will be a growing emphasis on molecular level information. This book provides a set of articles on newer methods of (primarily) molecular biology as applied to diagnostic medicine. The 44 chapters cover a wide variety of techniques with an emphasis on those associated with nucleic acid sequences. A brief overview chapter provides a general introduction. Each of the contributions is accompanied by an appropriate bibliography to allow the reader access to the primary literature. In general, sufficient detail is provided to give a sense of applicability to a particular problem but this is not a collection of protocols. Rather, the articles offer an introduction to the various procedures with a general focus on principles and pragmatic utility. Somewhat more than half of the material is concerned with various aspects of DNA technology — separation methods, probe design, single nucleotide polymorphisms, quantitative PCR, gene expression and related. Antibody-based methods are also reviewed as are some aspects of whole cell analysis (flow cytometry). Investigators wishing background about one or another such procedure will find much of utility here. There are, however, some omissions. Current applications of mass spectrometry (proteomics) are insufficiently discussed; non-PCR procedures for DNA amplification (critical for a number of applications) are not mentioned. Finally, the organization of the book could be improved — articles covering related methods should be grouped together to provide a logical flow. In spite of these caveats, it will be of value to most investigators.
Assessment: This book is good as far as it goes but it is missing some new and important methods. Proteomics in particular is sufficiently mature that its omission is a notable flaw. Still, given the overall coverage and useful bibliographies, it is valuable for most investigators in the area.

Doody's Review Service

3 Stars from Doody

"...the book is a good reference work in any clinical diagnostic lab...good value for the money." - Microbiology Today

From the Publisher