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.
This groundbreaking work, now available in paperback, has helped to shape the emerging discipline of molecular epidemiology. Molecular Epidemiology has proven useful to epidemiologists unfamiliar with the terminology and techniques of molecular biology as well as to the molecular biologist working to understand the determinants of human disease and to use that information to control disease. This book demonstrates how molecular epidemiology utilizes the same paradigm as traditional epidemiology in addition to using biological markers to identify exposure, disease, or susceptibility.
Molecular Tools and Infectious Disease Epidemiology examines the opportunities and methodologic challenges in the application of modern molecular genetic and biologic techniques to infectious disease epidemiology. The application of these techniques dramatically improves the measurement of disease and putative risk factors, increasing our ability to detect and track outbreaks, identify risk factors and detect new infectious agents. However, integration of these techniques into epidemiologic studies also poses new challenges in the design, conduct, and analysis. This book presents the key points of consideration when integrating molecular biology and epidemiology; discusses how using molecular tools in epidemiologic research affects program design and conduct; considers the ethical concerns that arise in molecular epidemiologic studies; and provides a context for understanding and interpreting scientific literature as a foundation for subsequent practical experience in the laboratory and in the field. The book is recommended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students studying infectious disease epidemiology and molecular epidemiology; and for the epidemiologist wishing to integrate molecular techniques into his or her studies. Presents the key points of consideration when integrating molecular biology and epidemiology Discusses how using molecular tools in epidemiologic research affects program design and conduct Considers the ethical concerns that arise in molecular epidemiologic studies Provides a context for understanding and interpreting scientific literature as a foundation for subsequent practical experience in the laboratory and in the field
The world population is rapidly aging—it is estimated that by 1950, around 17% of the population will be elderly. In this context, aging involves several physiological, psychological and highly complex social processes that vary from one person to another. For a long time, medical care for older adults has focused on treating chronic, age-related diseases and their associated consequences. Recently, biomedical research brings a novel point of view to develop more effective interventions by targeting the aging process itself rather than separate conditions. There is a growing number of reports indicating that aging is driven by several interconnected mechanisms and biological components referred to as the molecular pillars of aging. Interfering with these mechanisms could help to treat, prevent, and understand the development of age-related diseases and associated syndromes. This book provides a clinical perspective and general update on biomedical and genetic research in aging, moving from an update in the molecular pillars of aging to a perspective of the most recent pharmacological, clinical, and diagnostic applications using genomic approaches and techniques. While this book focuses on the specifics of genetics and genomics, it also adopts a clinical perspective of geroscience, which seeks to understand the genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms that make aging an important risk factor and, sometimes, a determining factor in the diseases and common chronic conditions of older people. Additionally, Clinical Genetics and Genomics of Aging is a significant contribution to support aging research, as it shows that collaboration across disciplines is relevant to progress in the field. As more and more people benefit from increased longevity, clinician and researchers will be empowered by this knowledge to contribute to the progress of aging research.
This volume comprises the investigation of factors that may predict the response to treatment, outcome, and survival by exploring: • design considerations in molecular epidemiology, including: case-only family-based approaches for evaluation of genetic susceptibility to exposure and addiction pharmacogenetics incorporation of biomarkers in clinical trials • measurement issues in molecular epidemiology, including DNA biosampling methods principles for high-quality genotyping haplotypes biomarkers of exposure and effect exposure assessment • methods of statistical inference used in molecular epidemiology, including gene-gene and gene-environment interaction analysis novel high-dimensional analysis approaches pathway-based analysis methods haplotype methods, dealing with race and ethnicity risk models a discussion of reporting and interpreting results • A specific discussion and synopsis of these methods provides concrete examples drawn from primary research in cancer Covering design considerations, measurement issues, and methods of statistical inference, and filled with scientific tables, equations, and pictures, Molecular Epidemiology: Applications in Cancer and Other Human Diseases presents a solid, single-source foundation for conducting and interpreting molecular epidemiological studies.
"I think this is an excellent book–I recommend it to anyone involved in molecular epidemiology... The 26 chapters are written by topic specialists, in an explanatory, east to read style." –BTS Newsletter, Summer 2009 "This text provides an accessible and useful handbook for the epidemiologist who wants to survey the field, to become better informed, to look at recent developments and get some background on these or simply to appreciate further the relatively rapid changes in informatic and analytical technologies which increasingly will serve and underpin future epidemiological studies. One of the strengths in this book is the extensive array of practical illustrative examples, and it would also in my opinion have useful potential as a teaching text." –American Journal of Human Biology, March 2009 With the sequencing of the human genome and the mapping of millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms, epidemiology has moved into the molecular domain. Scientists can now use molecular markers to track disease-associated genes in populations, enabling them to study complex chronic diseases that might result from the weak interactions of many genes with the environment. Use of these laboratory generated biomarker data and an understanding of disease mechanisms are increasingly important in elucidating disease aetiology. Molecular Epidemiology of Disease crosses the disciplinary boundaries between laboratory scientists, epidemiologists, clinical researchers and biostatisticians and is accessible to all these relevant research communities in focusing on practical issues of application, rather than reviews of current areas of research. Covers categories of biomarkers of exposure, susceptibility and disease Includes chapters on novel technologies: genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabonomics, which are increasingly finding application in population studies Emphasizes new statistical and bioinformatics approaches necessitated by the large data sets generated using these new methodologies Demonstrates the potential applications of laboratory techniques in tackling epidemiological problems while considering their limitations, including the sources of uncertainty and inaccuracy Discusses issues such as reliability (compared to traditional epidemiological methods) and the timing of exposure Explores practical elements of conducting population studies, including biological repositories and ethics Molecular Epidemiology of Disease provides an easy-to-use, clearly presented handbook that allows epidemiologists to understand the specifics of research involving biomarkers, and laboratory scientists to understand the main issues of epidemiological study design and analysis. It also provides a useful tool for courses on molecular epidemiology, using many examples from population studies to illustrate key concepts and principles.
During the last two decades, molecular epidemiology has become an important discipline in cancer research. It has evolved towards the development, validation and application of markers of susceptibility and, more recently, markers of mechanisms of cancer development. This volume on mechanisms of carcinogenesis covers from an interdisciplinary perspective, the contribution of molecular epidemiology to the understanding of mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and represents a further contribution to the development of molecular epidemiology as a major cancer research domain.
This book brings together leading experts to provide an introduction to genetic epidemiology that begins with a primer in human molecular genetics through all the standard methods in population genetics and genetic epidemiology required for an adequate grounding in the field.
This volume describes high-throughput approaches to a series of robust, established methodologies in molecular genetic studies of population samples. Such developments have been essential not only to linkage and association studies of single-gene and complex traits in humans, animals and plants, but also to the characterisation of clone banks, for example in mapping of genomes. Chapters have been written by developers or highly experienced end-users concerned with a diverse array of biological applications. The book should appeal to any researcher for whom costs and throughput in their genetics laboratory have become an issue.
The 'molecular' aspect of molecular epidemiology refers to the application of molecular biological approaches to epidemiologic problems. The variety and power of molecular methods are rapidly expanding our capability to dissect etiologic mechanisms of disease. The 'epidemiologic' aspect, meanwhile, refers to utilizing the tools and perspectives of epidemiology to comprehend observations in molecular biology. An increasingly sophisticated variety of molecular techniques are being applied to generate an explosion of data on exposures and outcomes whose significance must be determined. The wealth of information generated by the Human Genome Project and the corresponding efforts in microbial genomics are providing researchers with extraordinary new opportunities to further understand the etiology of disease. Molecular epidemiology is rapidly evolving through the application of more relevant markers of exposure and better identification of subgroups at increased risk of early disease processes and progression. This volume provides a broad overview of the diverse approaches encompassed by this emerging discipline. Chapters 1-3 highlight concepts and methods at the forefront of studies of infectious diseases, and include a synopsis of general epidemiologic design and analysis, as well as current techniques for molecular typing of microbial pathogens. Chapters 4-6 are focussed on recent advances in studying host genetics, including methods for the detection of mutations and polymorphisms, identification of linkage among alleles of genes on a given chromosome, and the use of DNA pooling to increase efficiency in association studies of genetically complex traits. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with the relationship between pathologies and immune system genetics, and on the use of DNA sequence information to garner insights into the evolution of infectious pathogens, and into the evolution and function of the immune system.
