COLABORACIÓN ESPECIAL La revolución de los microarrays en la investigación biosanitaria: tipos de plataformas, usos y perspectivas en oncología The microarray revolution in biomedical research: types of platforms, uses and perspectives in oncology

Through the introduction, use and management of genome-based tools, research into genetic alterations that give rise to diseases as common as cancer has undergone a technical revolution comparable to the introduction of the microscope in laboratories. Now, study of the gene-disease relationship is no longer based on analysing a single gene and its effects, but on analysing the behaviour of thousands of genes in a simultaneous form. These systems, generically called matrices, arrays, microarrays or biochips, are chang- ing the way we pose problems and draw conclusions from experiments, since they offer us a complex photo of the genome as a whole. Analyses of expression through microarrays of cDNI or oligos are now accessi- ble to the Spanish scientific community. The results have proved fascinating to researchers since they can be reproduced easily and contribute a great quantity of information on the regulation of the gene expression in normal and pathological conditions.