Diagnostic Molecular Pathology: A Guide to Applied Molecular Testing

Diagnostic Molecular Pathology: A Guide to Applied Molecular Testing is organized around disease types (genetic disease, infectious disease, neoplastic disease, among others). In each section, the authors provide background on disease mechanisms and describe how laboratory testing is built on knowledge of these mechanisms. Sections are dedicated to general methodologies employed in testing (to convey the concepts reflected in the methods), and specific description of how these methods can be applied and are applied to specific diseases are described.

The book does not present molecular methods in isolation, but considers how other evidence (symptoms, radiology or other imaging, or other clinical tests) is used to guide the selection of molecular tests or how these other data are used in conjunction with molecular tests to make diagnoses (or otherwise contribute to clinical workup). In addition, final chapters look to the future (new technologies, new approaches) of applied molecular pathology and how discovery-based research will yield new and useful biomarkers and tests.

Diagnostic Molecular Pathology: A Guide to Applied Molecular Testing contains exercises to test readers on their understanding of how molecular diagnostic tests are utilized and the value of the information that can be obtained in the context of the patient workup. Readers are directed to an ancillary website that contains supplementary materials in the form of exercises where decision trees can be employed to simulate actual clinical decisions.

William B. Coleman, PhD is the Executive Officer for the American Society for Investigative Pathology (Rockville, MD). Prior to taking this position with the American Society for Investigative Pathology, Dr. Coleman spent 28 years at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine (Chapel Hill, NC), first as a postdoctoral fellow (1990-1995) and then as a faculty member (1995-2018) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. During his time at the UNC School of Medicine, Dr. Coleman served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Molecular and Cellular Pathology Ph.D. Program (2006-2012; now the Pathobiology and Translational Medicine Ph.D. Program), was a co-founder of the UNC Program in Translational Medicine and served as its Co-Director (2006-2015) and then its Director (2015-2018), was affiliated with the Curriculum in Toxicology, the Cancer Biology Training Program, and was a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Coleman was active in teaching biomedical graduate students and is a four-time recipient of the Joe W. Grisham Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching from the Molecular and Cellular Pathology graduate students at the UNC School of Medicine. Prior to becoming an employee, Dr. Coleman was active in the leadership of the American Society for Investigative Pathology, serving in various roles including President (2015-2016). Dr. Coleman was honored with the ASIP Outstanding Investigator Award in 2013 from the American Society for Investigative Pathology. He is also a long-time member of the American Association for Cancer Research. He serves as Senior Associate Editor for The American Journal of Pathology, and is an Associate Editor for BMC Cancer, and PLoS One, and serves on the editorial boards of Clinica Chimica Acta, Experimental and Molecular Pathology, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Laboratory Investigation, and Current Pathobiology Reports, and has served as an ad hoc reviewer for 99 other journals. Dr. Coleman’s major research interests are in the molecular pathogenesis of human cancers, with a specific interest in breast cancer epigenetics, liver carcinogenesis, and lung cancer biology. His research was funded by the NIH/NCI, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test, and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Coleman is the author of over 140 original research articles, reviews, and book chapters. In addition, Dr. Coleman has co-edited or co-authored ten books on topics related to molecular pathology, molecular diagnostics, and the molecular pathogenesis of human cancer.

Gregory J. Tsongalis, PhD, HCLD, CC, FNACB., is the Vice Chair for Research and the Director of the Laboratory for Clinical Genomics and Advanced Technology (CGAT) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) in Lebanon, NH. He is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and a member of the NCCC Molecular Therapeutics Program and the gastrointestinal and breast cancer clinical oncology groups. In 2016 he became a member of Dartmouth College’s Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine (PEMM), and he has served on the advisory board of the Health Care Genetics Professional Science Master’s Degree Program and Diagnostic Genetic Sciences Program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT). His area of expertise is in the development and implementation of clinical molecular diagnostic technologies. His research interests are in the pathogenesis of human cancers, personalized medicine and disruptive technologies. He has authored/edited twelve textbooks in the field of molecular pathology, published more than 230 peer reviewed manuscripts, and has been an invited speaker at both national and international meetings. He has served on numerous committees of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, the American Society for Investigative Pathology, the Federation for American Societies for Experimental Biology, and the Association for Molecular Pathology (where he is a past President). He is active in the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, the Association for Molecular Pathology, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, the American Association of Bioanalysts, and the American Society for Investigative Pathology. He serves on the editorial boards of 8 journals including Clinical Chemistry, Experimental and Molecular Pathology, and the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. In 2016, Dr. Tsongalis received the Norris Cotton Cancer Center Award for Excellence, in 2017 the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) Jeffrey A. Kant Leadership Award, and in 2019 the American Society for Investigative Pathology Robbins Distinguished Educator Award. He also serves on numerous corporate scientific advisory boards.