2012 highlights in translational 'omics

This annual editorial from Genome Medicine’s Section Editors highlights the most exciting research from the past year and the potential of these advances for medicine. Last year, we noted that medical ‘omics continued its inexorable move towards the clinic; in 2012 it has truly arrived. DNA capture technologies and sequencing continue to lead the way, with implications for human genomics, personalized medicine, pharmacogenomics and drug labeling, public health screening, and public policy already apparent. There have also been technological advances in proteomics and other ‘omic approaches, and in the integration of these approaches to provide more informative molecular signatures of health and susceptibility to disease. De novo mutations: from complexity to the clinic