If there is one aspect of current cancer research that represents a major ch- lenge in both novice and experienced researchers, it is the rapid advance in our understanding of the disease. Researchers can be required to switch from analysis of gene expression to kinetics of protein activation, from genetic studies to the analysis of protein funtion. Cancers are highly complex disease systems and researchers aiming to understand the functioning of cancer systems require access to a wide range of laboratory techiques from a broad range of research disciplines. Increasingly, however, published methods are incomplete or refer back to a series of previous publications each containing only a small part of the complete pro- col. The aim of Ovarian Cancer: Methods and Protocols is to provide for ovarian cancer researchers in the first instance, a laboratory handbook that will facilitate research into cancer systems by providing a series of expert protocols, with proven efficacy, across a broad range of technical expertise. Thus, there are sections on tumor genetics and cellular signal transduction, as well as sections on apoptosis and RNA analysis. The value of Ovarian Cancer: Methods and Protocols to the ovarian cancer researcher will, I trust, be considerably enhanced by (1) the provision of a series of overviews relating to the biology, diagnosis, and treatment of this important neoplasm, and (2) the provision of a series of technical overviews introducing each part that provides an expert review of the applications and pitfalls of the various techniques included.
Cancers are highly complex disease systems that require access to widely diverse laboratory techniques from a broad range of research disciplines, methods that are often beyond the knowledge of a single researcher. In Ovarian Cancer: Methods and Protocols, over one hundred well-respected scientists comprehensively review every aspect of the biology underlying ovarian cancer and present a detailed collection of easy-to-follow methods for illuminating this frequently fatal disease's basic mechanisms. Here today's investigators will find the broadest imaginable array of molecular biology techniques specially designed to determine not only tumor genetics, expression, and protein function, but also to elucidate the genetic mechanisms by which gene and immunotherapies may be perfected. The book's highly experienced authors provide help in selecting the correct model system for each experimental approach, and offer extensive technical advice to facilitate the planning of individual experiments and ensure that researchers are using the optimal techniques for their research programs. Although structured primarily for ovarian cancer researchers, and using examples from that field, the techniques can be immediately applied to research in many other tumor types.
Versatile and comprehensive, Ovarian Cancer Methods and Protocols constitutes a veritable treasury of well-proven expert methods that will help basic scientists and clinical researchers alike master the powerful technologies required for effective cancer research today.
