Applications of cell and molecular biology to pneumonology

I briefly review comments I made concerning recent advances in techniques of cell and molecular biology, including molecular cloning and characterization of genes, gene therapy, and newer applications of these techniques to the study of lung disease during the 1990 annual meeting of the Swiss Society of Pneumonology. Recent preliminary findings from my own laboratory utilizing the example of immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization techniques to study connective tissue and cytokine growth factor expression and remodeling in human pulmonary fibrosis are also discussed.