How are biospecimens used in research?
Since the Human Genome was mapped in 2000, scientists have developed many ways to identify genes and their functions, and to learn and alter the role they play in the origin and progression of disease. Other emerging fields of study include proteomics – the study of the full set of proteins encoded by the genome – and pharmacogenomics, which links a patient’s genes to their response to drugs and medicines. All of these advances are sometimes categorized as molecular medicine. In addition to this sort of molecular information, scientists are also analyzing a vast amount of clinical information about patients’ health and disease, taken from patient records and clinical trials. This data helps them identify patterns and disease sub-types, and is leading to strategies to diagnose and treat disease in new and more effective ways. Human biospecimens can provide a bridge between emerging molecular information and clinical information. Researchers use specimens to isolate the molecular charact
