Expression Profiling in Brain Disorders

The development of a variety of high-throughput (HT) technologies in molecular biology has markedly extended its analytical power and has given rise to an exponential jump of accumulation of data. The technologies can be roughly sorted into the ones used to analyze the transcriptome and the proteome. High-throughput DNA sequencing methods are only touched upon here in relation to transcription (epigenetics). Moreover, only a selection of new technologies can be covered within the scope of the article. It may give rise to more information upon new developments in this field to the reader. Evidently, the technologies can be used for many research applications. In general, they pave the way for a deeper understanding of biological systems. However, this fascinating potential requires substantial efforts in embedding the data in the biological context, presumably by aid of mathematical tools. Therefore, apart from describing the technologies, this pivotal aspect has been elaborated on in more detail here, in particular with respect to the complexity of the brain.