Applications of molecular biology techniques to transfusion medicine.

Other articles in this issue of Seminars in Hematology have reviewed the results of basic research in relation to the understanding of the genes, the molecular basis of blood group variants, and structural and functional aspects of the proteins carrying blood group antigens. Although molecular techniques are currently being used in a limited fashion in clinical laboratories, their application has far-reaching possibilities and undoubtedly will be soon applied more generally. We focus on two general areas: molecular genotyping for blood group antigens and their expression analysis in heterologous systems.