Molecular Biology

Molecular biology encompasses the structure and function of genetic material, its transcription into RNA, and then translation into protein, as well as recently-emerging regulatory processes, such as the roles of small RNA molecules (e.g. miRNA, siRNA) . DNA sequencing has undergone a recent revolution – while the dependable Sanger method is still used, researchers have quickly taken advantage of the faster “next-generation” sequencing methods. Amplifying DNA in the lab has also become faster – PCR has evolved into the quicker “fast PCR,” as well as the quantitative method of real-time PCR. Both DNA and RNA can be screened quickly using microarray technology, which has grown in capacity to include tens of thousands of samples per run. Genotyping organisms is efficiently accomplished using mapping arrays on genotyping chips. For studying gene expression, standard methods such as Northern blot analysis, and RT-PCR / quantitative RT-PCR are tried-and-true. However, new advances in gene expression profiling and next-generation sequencing can quantify gene expression levels genome-wide.