Integrative genomics--a basic and essential tool for the development of molecular medicine

Abstract

Understanding the molecular mechanisms of disease requires the introduction of molecular diagnostics into medical practice. Current medicine employs only elements of molecular diagnostics, and usually on the scale of single genes. Medicine in the post-genomic era will utilize thousands of molecular markers associated with disease that are provided by high-throughput sequencing and functional genomic, proteomic and metabolomic studies. Such a spectrum of techniques will link clinical medicine based on molecularly oriented diagnostics with the prediction and prevention of disease. To achieve this task, large-scale and genome-wide biological and medical data must be combined with biostatistical analyses and bioinformatic modeling of biological systems. The collecting, cataloging and comparison of data from molecular studies and the subsequent development of conclusions create the fundamentals of systems biology. This highly complex analytical process reflects a new scientific paradigm called integrative genomics.