Omics The complete sequencing of the human genome has ushered in a new era of systems biology referred to as omics. This has transformed cell biology in academia and industry from a cottage industry in which one gene or protein is studied at a time to a world in which whole organelles and pathways are studied simultaneously. The term omics refers to the comprehensive analysis of biological systems. A variety of omics subdisciplines have begun to emerge, each with their own set of instruments, techniques, reagents and software. The omics technology that has driven these new areas of research consists of DNA and protein microarrays, mass spectrometry and a number of other instruments that enable high-throughput analyses. Likewise, the field of bioinformatics has grown in parallel and with the help of the internet, rapid data analysis and information exchange is now possible.Omics will not only have an impact on our understanding of biological processes, but the prospect of more accurately diagnosing and treating disease will soon become a reality. However, new technology is developing constantly and quickly, so it is important that researchers keep up to date with the latest protocols, commercial products and other sources of information. OmicsWorld was developed as a portal to link investigators to the wide variety of resources that are currently available in specific omics fields. We hope that this site will serve as a valuable tool in this endeavor.   Gen-omics Genomics may be described as the comprehensive analysis of DNA structure and function. Understanding biological diversity at the whole genome level will yield insight into the origins of individual traits and disease susceptibility. Though organisms such as humans are quite similar at the genetic level, differences exist at a frequency of about 1 in every 1000 nucleotide bases. This translates into approximately 3 million base differences between each individual. Such changes are referred to as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and a significant effort is now underway in the research community to map the individual SNPs in humans and other organisms. SNPs may be found within gene coding regions or in non-coding regions. Their effects may be subtle yielding slight changes in protein function or profound, leading to the development of disease. A polymorphism is distinct from a mutation. The latter is considered rare, affecting less than one percent of the species, whereas a polymorphism is relatively common and its prevalence is no different to what is considered normal. Over the last decade, there has been an unprecedented surge of data directed at sequencing and categorizing all of genes in the human genome as well other organisms. There has also been a concomitant acceleration in the technology dedicated to genomics research including instrumentation, reagents, software and databases. Prote-omics Proteomics involves the systematic study of proteins in order to provide a comprehensive view of the structure, function and regulation of biological systems. Advances in instrumentation and methodologies have fueled an expansion of the scope of biological studies from simple biochemical analysis of single proteins to measurements of complex protein mixtures. Proteomics is rapidly becoming an essential component of biological research. Coupled with advances in bioinformatics, this approach to comprehensively describing biological systems will undoubtedly have a major impact on our understanding of the phenotypes of both normal and diseased cells. Initially, proteomics focused on the generation of protein maps using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The field has since expanded to include not only protein expression profiling, but the analysis of post-translational modifications and protein-protein interactions. Protein expression, or the quantitative measurement of the global levels of proteins, may still be done with two-dimensional gels, however, mass spectrometry has been incorporated to increase sensitivity, specificity and to provide results in a high-throughput format. A variety of platforms are available to conduct protein expression studies and this site provides links to these resources. The study of protein-protein interactions has been revolutionized by the development of protein microarrays. Analagous to DNA microarrays, these biochips are printed with antibodies or proteins and probed with a complex protein mixture. The intenisty or indentity of the resulting protein-protein interactions may be detected by fluorescence imaging or mass spectrometry. Other protein capture methods may be used in place of arrays, including the yeast two-hybrid system or the isolation of proteins/protein complexes by affinity chromatography or other separation techniques. Transcript-omics Genomics not only involves the study of SNPs and mutations in DNA, but also includes the comprehensive analysis of gene expression in a cell. Recent advances in bioinformatics and high-throughput technologies such as microarray analysis are bringing about a revolution in our understanding of cell biology and the molecular mechanisms underlying normal and dysfunctional biological processes. This field of omics is also stimulating the discovery of new targets for the treatment of disease which is aiding drug development, immunotherapeutics and gene therapy. Gene expression profiling has enabled the measurement of thousands of genes in a single RNA sample. There are a variety of microarray platforms that have been developed to accomplish this and the basic idea for each is simple: a glass slide or membrane is spotted or "arrayed" with DNA fragments or oligonucleotides that represent specific gene coding regions. Purified RNA is then fluorescently- or radioactively labeled and hybridized to the slide/membrane. In some cases, hybridization is done simultaneously with reference RNA to facilitate comparison of data across multiple experiments. After thorough washing, the data may be analyzed by a variety of statistical algorithms. Site Map