MOLECULAR-BIOLOGY TECHNIQUES IN CLINICAL RESEARCH, IN CHILE

Medical investigation in Chile is beginning to apply molecular biology methods as diagnostic tools and in studies establishing the prevalenc e of pathologies with Mendelian or multifactorial genetic origin. In t his way, we are getting nearer to the strategies used worldwide for th ese purposes. Two studies published in this journal, one about hemophi lia. A where an analysis of intron-18 and intron-7 of the Factor VIII gene was applied as strategy for the diagnosis of carrier state in a C hilean population, and the other one about insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Santiago, Chile, with an analysis from immunogenetics to s ome environmental risk factors, constitute good examples about this in tegration.