On 2013 Nov 19, Allison Stelling commented:

One minor quibble with the authors of this quite thorough review: you keep referring to genetic alterations one can test for in brain tumor patients as "molecular diagnostics". Technically this is correct- genes are, indeed, molecules. (Well, macromolecules.) However, perhaps it may be better to simply refer to sequencing of patient DNA as "genetic diagnostics"- just to avoid confusion between this and true molecular phenotype information. (When I read "molecular analysis", I assume someone has done a crystal structure, FTIR, NMR, and mass spec- usually not the case in tissue research!)

Your call for interdisciplinary cooperation- which is nicely illustrated in Figure 1- necessitates cross border communication as well as orchestration between communities of experts. More nuanced definitions of diagnostic tests may be helpful for facilitating this conversation.

On 2013 Nov 19, Allison Stelling commented:

One minor quibble with the authors of this quite thorough review: you keep referring to genetic alterations one can test for in brain tumor patients as "molecular diagnostics". Technically this is correct- genes are, indeed, molecules. (Well, macromolecules.) However, perhaps it may be better to simply refer to sequencing of patient DNA as "genetic diagnostics"- just to avoid confusion between this and true molecular phenotype information. (When I read "molecular analysis", I assume someone has done a crystal structure, FTIR, NMR, and mass spec- usually not the case in tissue research!)

Your call for interdisciplinary cooperation- which is nicely illustrated in Figure 1- necessitates cross border communication as well as orchestration between communities of experts. More nuanced definitions of diagnostic tests may be helpful for facilitating this conversation.