Cancer genetics: from Boveri and Mendel to microarrays.

The human genome has now been sequenced, a century after the re-discovery of Mendel's Laws, and the publication of Theodor Boveri's chromosomal theory of heredity. Tracing the historical landmarks of cancer genetics from these early days to the present time not only gives us an appreciation of how far we have come, but also emphasizes the challenges that we face if we are to unravel the genetic basis of hereditary and sporadic cancers in the next century.