The future of gene arrays in cardiovascular toxicology: navigating through the sea of information

The age of bioinformation is upon us. Genomics has metamorphosed into toxicogenomics, proteomics, metabonomics, and transcriptomics, all of which rely on bioinformatics. We have become so engulfed in information, in fact, that we are almost to the point of "technology saturation." So much so that we are becoming more and more lost in this sea of information, with no clear and common goal. As more laboratories utilize gene array technology, researchers find their investments quickly becoming obsolete as the doubling-time of information rapidly approaches zero. It is important, however, to keep in mind that science drives technology, not the other way around. Consequently, the question presents itself--Is it even feasible to keep up with the pace of technology? The simple answer is yes...as long as scientists remain focused on the hypothesis being tested and not the technology being used. Certainly, sometimes it feels like the wise decision would be to sit back and wait for the winner of this "technology war" to arise, but that would be putting the cart before the horse. We, as scientists, must gain the upper hand and learn to utilize this newfound technology to our advantage.