High-throughput gene expression analysis for drug discovery

The ability to rapidly survey and compare gene expression levels between re ference and test samples is moving the drug discovery process towards a mor e genomic orientation. The success of the Human Genome Project and related private genomics initiatives, combined with new technologies to probe, imag e and access expression data, are responsible for this transformation. This article reviews the history, status and future direction of high-throughpu t gene expression analysis. It describes classical approaches, explains the development of methods such as differential display for discovering novel genes, and discusses how microarray technology is exploiting collections of known sequences to pinpoint drug targets.