Applied genomics: integration of the technology within pharmaceutical research and development

Multiple novel technologies have recently been developed to improve the ana lysis of genetic sequences, to rapidly assess RNA or protein levels in rele vant tissues, and to validate function of potential new drug targets. The c hallenge facing pharmaceutical research is one of effective integration of these new technologies in ways that can maximally affect the discovery and development pipeline. Although database mining and transcriptional profilin g clearly have increased the number of putative targets, the current focus is to assign function to new gene targets in a high-throughput manner. This requires a restructuring of the classical linear progression from gene ide ntification, functional elucidation, target validation and screen developme nt. New approaches are called for that can make this process non-linear and high-throughput.