Genomics and Proteomics

Genomics is the study of an organism’s genome aimed at the functional specification of the different parts of the sequence that compose the blueprint of the living cell to unveil the mechanisms of the physiology of the cell and its basic, developmental and tissue specific processes. Proteomics is the comprehensive study of the executive molecules of the cell that are coded by the genome, further raising the level of complexity, due to the large amplification in the number, going from genes to proteins, and to the sophisticated structural and functional characterization of protein products, which confer specific biochemical properties. While continuous progress in technology provides new experimental solutions to study and measure the behavior of genes and proteins in the cell, the analysis and the management of biological data cannot be uncoupled from the use of mathematics, statistics and informatics, disciplines that play a key role in the modern molecular biology. Together genomics and proteomics, meant as complementary approaches, delineate the framework of the modern molecular medicine, where the knowledge of the functional mechanisms at the subcellular scale, both in physiological and in pathological conditions, may lead to an improvement in diagnosis, therapy and drug development.