Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Molecular Pathology

Molecular pathology is an evolving branch within pathology which is concentrated in the study and analysis of disease through the investigation of molecules within organs, tissues or bodily fluids. Molecular pathology shares some characteristics of practice with both anatomic pathology as well as clinical pathology, molecular biology, biochemistry, proteomics and genetics, and is sometimes considered as a "crossover" branch. It is multi-disciplinary in nature and focuses chiefly on the sub-microscopic characteristics of disease. A key consideration is that more precise diagnosis is possible when the diagnosis is based on both the morphologic variations in tissues (traditional anatomic pathology) and on molecular testing.