Technologies collectively called omics enable simultaneous measurement of an enormous number of biomolecules; for example, genomics investigates thousands of DNA sequences, and proteomics examines large numbers of proteins. Scientists are using these technologies to develop innovative tests to detect disease and to predict a patient's likelihood of responding to specific drugs. Following a recent case involving premature use of omics-based tests in cancer clinical trials at Duke University, the NCI requested that the IOM establish a committee to recommend ways to strengthen omics-based test development and evaluation. This report identifies best practices to enhance development, evaluation, and translation of omics-based tests while simultaneously reinforcing steps to ensure that these tests are appropriately assessed for scientific validity before they are used to guide patient treatment in clinical trials.

The study of transcriptomics is key to understanding complex diseases. This new edition will build on the foundation of the first edition while incorporating the progress that has been made in the field of transcriptomics in the past six years, including bioinformatics for data analysis. Written by leading experts, chapters address new subjects such as methodological advances in large-scale sequencing, the sequencing of single-cells, and spatial transcriptomics. The new edition will address how transcriptomics may be used in combination with genetic strategies to identify causative genes in monogenic and complex genetic diseases. Coverage will also explore transcriptomics in challenging groups of diseases, such as cancer, inflammation, bacterial infection, and autoimmune diseases. The updated volume will be useful for geneticists, genome biologists, biomedical researchers, molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, and students, among others.

Now in a revised second edition, Nutrigenomics and Proteomics in Health and Disease brings together the very latest science based upon nutrigenomics and proteomics in food and health. Coverage includes many important nutraceuticals and their impact on gene interaction and health. Authored by an international team of multidisciplinary researchers, this book acquaints food and nutrition professionals with these new fields of nutrition research and conveys the state of the science to date. Thoroughly updated to reflect the most current developments in the field, the second edition includes six new chapters covering gut health and the personal microbiome; gut microbe-derived bioactive metabolites; proteomics and peptidomics in nutrition; gene selection for nutrigenomic studies; gene-nutrient network analysis, and nutrigenomics to nutritional systems biology. An additional five chapters have also been significantly remodelled. The new text includes a rethinking of in vitro and in vivo models with regard to their translatability into human phenotypes, and normative science methods and approaches have been complemented by more comprehensive systems biology-based investigations, deploying a multitude of omic platforms in an integrated fashion. Innovative tools and methods for statistical treatment and biological network analysis are also now included.

Genomics of Rare Diseases: Understanding Disease Genetics Using Genomic Approaches, a new volume in the Translational and Applied Genomics series, offers readers a broad understanding of current knowledge on rare diseases through a genomics lens. This clear understanding of the latest molecular and genomic technologies used to elucidate the molecular causes of more than 5,000 genetic disorders brings readers closer to unraveling many more that remain undefined and undiscovered. The challenges associated with performing rare disease research are also discussed, as well as the opportunities that the study of these disorders provides for improving our understanding of disease architecture and pathophysiology. Leading chapter authors in the field discuss approaches such as karyotyping and genomic sequencing for the better diagnosis and treatment of conditions including recessive diseases, dominant and X-linked disorders, de novo mutations, sporadic disorders and mosaicism. - Compiles applied case studies and methodologies, enabling researchers, clinicians and healthcare providers to effectively classify DNA variants associated with disease and patient phenotypes - Discusses the main challenges in studying the genetics of rare diseases through genomic approaches and possible or ongoing solutions - Explores opportunities for novel therapeutics - Features chapter contributions from leading researchers and clinicians

Blood samples have consistently proven to be a key source of genetic material for a wide variety of diagnostic or research purposes. In DNA and RNA Profiling in Human Blood: Methods and Protocols, leading international experts contribute both established and recently developed protocols for complex and high-throughput DNA and RNA profiling. Divided into two thorough sections, the volume concentrates on DNA profiling for blood cell antigens through methods on high-throughput multiplex approaches and SNP typing, along with RNA profiling in blood cells addressing certain blood cell types such as platelets, reticulocytes, and megakaryocytes. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular BiologyTM series format, all of the chapters include brief introductions on the subject, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, as well as the Notes section which highlights tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, DNA and RNA Profiling in Human Blood: Methods and Protocols is an ideal guide to the molecular profiling approaches that have opened up this broad field of research and have shown great promise in the further identifying of disease markers in blood.

Nutritional genomics paves the way for novel applications in medicine and human nutrition, and this volume presents the latest data on how genetic variation is associated with dietary response and how nutrients influence gene expression. In so doing, it brings together the various disciplines involved in this field of research, making this essential reading for nutritionists, biochemists and molecular biologists.

Wood surface attributes can be established by examining its several different physical or chemical properties. Differences in the wood surfaces occur between the manufacturing and post-treatment processes as well. Understanding how their unique anisotropic molecular organization, chemical linkages, branching, and other molecular features govern micro- and macroscale accessibility is essential for coating and complex modification processes. It is therefore important for scientific as well as practical reasons to qualify and quantify the effects of wood surface treatments and modifications. Challenges still exist to fully understanding the effect of the numerous applied chemicals and the wide range of treatment processes on wood surfaces.

This book offers a comprehensive overview on lifestyle habits related to development of risk factors of chronic diseases. It provides a summary of the impacts of various modifiable factors that influence long-term health status. The accumulation of unhealthy lifestyle habits shows that over the life course, increasing the number, duration, and severity of unhealthy behaviors would increase the risk of disease development. This contributed volume highlights the fact that establishing a healthy lifestyle is easier and more effective than focusing on lifestyle change

This book will serve as a primer for both laboratory and field scientists who are shaping the emerging field of molecular epidemiology. Molecular epidemiology utilizes the same paradigm as traditional epidemiology but uses biological markers to identify exposure, disease or susceptibility. Schulte and Perera present the epidemiologic methods pertinent to biological markers. The book is also designed to enumerate the considerations necessary for valid field research and provide a resource on the salient and subtle features of biological indicators.

The notion of matching diet with an individual's genetic makeup is transforming the way the public views nutrition as a means of managing health and preventing disease. To fulfill the promise of nutritional genomics, researchers are beginning to reconcile the diverse properties of dietary factors with our current knowledge of genome structure and g