Genomics and Clinical Medicine

The completion of the Human Genome Project has been an important milestone in medicine. The identification of approximately 25,000 genes and their regulatory proteins provides the framework for understanding the molecular and metabolic basis of disease. This advance has laid the foundation for a broad range of genomic tools that have opened the way for targeted genetic testing in a number of medical disorders. This book is designed to be the first major text to discuss genomics-based advances in disease susceptibility, diagnosis, prognostication, and predication of treatment outcomes in various areas of medicine. After building a strong underpinning in the basic concepts of genomics, the book discusses a wide range of medical disorders and the applications now afforded by genomic analysis. It is now widely acknowledged that the information generated by genomics will provide major benefits for the prevention, diagnosis, and management of communicable and genetic diseases as well as other common complex medical disorders, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mental illness.