Integrating genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics in translational studies 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, which are usually applied on the scale of single genes. Medicine in the postgenomic era will utilize thousands of disease-associated molecular markers 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 and bioinformatic analyses to model biological systems. Collecting, cataloging and comparing data from molecular studies, and the subsequent development of conclusions, creates the fundamentals of systems biology. This highly complex analytical process reflects a new scientific paradigm known as integrative genomics.