Genomic portraits of the nervous system in health and disease

As the human genome project moves toward its goal of sequencing the entire human genome, gene expression pro. ling by DNA microarray technology is being employed to rapidly screen genes for biological information. In this review, we will introduce DNA microarray technology, outline the basic experimental paradigms and data analysis methods, and then show with some examples how gene expression pro. ling can be applied to the study of the central nervous system in health and disease.