title: Genomics and Clinical Medicine (Oxford Monographs on Medical Genetics)
author: Dhavendra Kumar
description: <br>"The plan is a comprehensive attempt to cover the applications of genomics and related areas to clinical medicine. Dr. Kumar has read widely and thought carefully about current work in many areas of medicine. He has developed an excellent set of chapters with appropriate authors. The book will be of great interest to physician-scientists and biological scientists who want an overview of the current status of potential applications of genomics to medicine."--<em>Arno Motulsky, Professor Emeritus (Active) of Medical Genetics, University of Washington</em>
zlib_text: CHAPTER 15
  Epilogue: Personal Genetic Medicine—
  The Future Is Now
  THOMAS F. KRESINA, PH.D.
  INTRODUCTION
  A major component of genetic-based research involves the identiﬁcation of proto-
  cols that can be applied to diseases or speciﬁc pathogenesis. However, the rapidly
  advancing technology revolution and the elucidation of the human genome (see the
  Appendix) have opened other windows for the application of molecular genetics 
  in the practice of medicine. A signiﬁcant window in the medical management of
  patients is the use of speciﬁc identiﬁed human genetic polymorphisms occurring in
  genes. These polymorphisms are cataloged and used in the context of susceptibility
  to disease and the pharmacokinetics of prescription drugs. The ﬁeld has advanced
  so far that individualized medical care based on the identiﬁcation of genetic poly-
  morphisms has recently been introduced and is currently offered in Sweden.
  DNA DATABASES
  Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymorphisms are changes in nucleotide sequenc