title: The new cytogenetics: blurring the boundaries with molecular biology.
abstract: Exciting advances in fluorescence in situ hybridization and array-based techniques are changing the nature of cytogenetics, in both basic research and molecular diagnostics. Cytogenetic analysis now extends beyond the simple description of the chromosomal status of a genome and allows the study of fundamental biological questions, such as the nature of inherited syndromes, the genomic changes that are involved in tumorigenesis and the three-dimensional organization of the human genome. The high resolution that is achieved by these techniques, particularly by microarray technologies such as array comparative genomic hybridization, is blurring the traditional distinction between cytogenetics and molecular biology.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Humangenetik, Technische Universität München, Germany. speicher@humangenetik.med.tu-muenchen.de
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Speicher
authors.forename: Nigel P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Carter
mesh_terms: D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D020732:Cytogenetic Analysis; D003582:Cytogenetics / Q000266:history; D023281:Genomics; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008967:Molecular Biology; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D032681:Spectral Karyotyping