The invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1994 and remains one of the most important scientific discoveries of the twentieth century. More than 50,000 researchers in the United States use PCR replication technology, yet there is a significant absence of any recent publications on this subject. In this book, Dr Stephen A. Bustin, a world-renowned PCR expert, examines in detail the latest innovations and the overall impact of PCR on many areas of molecular research. The book contains personal reflections, opinions, and comments by leading authorities on the many applications of the PCR and how this technology has revolutionised their respective areas of interest. Bustin explains the ways in which PCR has overcome many obstacles in life science and clinical research and charts the PCR's development from time-consuming, low throughput, non-quantitative procedure to today's rapid, high throughput, quantitative super method.