Molecular pathology is a subspecialty of pathology that utilizes molecular and genetic approaches in the diagnosis and classification of human diseases, the identification of predictive and prognostic biomarkers for treatment response and disease progressions, as well as the identification of individuals who may possess an increased susceptibility to certain diseases such as cancer.
Techniques are numerous but include quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), multiplex PCR, DNA microarray, in situ hybridization, DNA sequencing, antibody based immunofluorescence tissue assays, molecular profiling of pathogens, and analysis of bacterial genes for antimicrobial resistance.