Contents Preface 1 Principles of molecular biology 2 Genomes and nucleic acid alterations 3 Nucleic acid techniques 4 DNA chips 5 Design and operation of a molecular diagnostics laboratory 6 Molecular methods in diagnosis 7 Pharmacogenetics 8 Molecular genetics in diagnosis Bibliography IndexMolecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry particularly genetics and biochemistry Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell including the interactions between DNA RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulatedGenetics is the area of biological study concerned with heredity and with the variations between organisms that result from it It demands an understanding of numerous terms such as DNA deoxyribonucleic acid a molecule in all cells that contains blueprints for genetic inheritance genes units of information about particular heritable traits which are made from DNA and chromosomes DNA-containing bodies located in the cells of most living things that hold most of the organisms genes