Molecular medicine: a primer for clinicians. Part III: Molecular tools for analyzing human genes

This is the third paper in our series on how today's practicing clinician is affected by the concepts of molecular medicine. Described are the major tools of molecular biologist, previously used primarily in basic research, that are finding widespread application in the day-to-day practice of medicine. Discussed are Southern and Northern analyses, restriction fragment length polymorphisms, the polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization as applied to clinical problems.