ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors describe what quantitative polymerase chain reaction [qPCR] is as well as provide a brief history of its development. They then focus on how it is being used in precision medicine and as a companion diagnostic. Although there is broad utility of qPCR, the authors utilize examples in oncology and infectious disease to exemplify how qPCR has been successfully utilized in the past. They also provide evidence for the robustness of qPCR as a companion diagnostic and for its potential to become a precision medicine standard. The authors then address how qPCR can be used in the future, some of the limitations associated with qPCR, and how some of these limitations can be addressed. qPCR is a molecular biology laboratory technique based on PCR that allows for the experimenter to identify quantities of DNA in a sample.
