Anatomical, functional, and molecular magnetic resonance imaging in the post-genomic era

Over the last decade there has been rapid progress in development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that give specific anatomical, functional and molecular information. Paralleling these developments there has been tremendous progress in molecular genetics which has generated powerful tools for understanding and manipulating the genetic basis of cell and tissue function. There is now rapidly growing interest in combining advances in MRI and advances in molecular genetics to develop efficient ways to map specific genetic changes onto the complex physiology of an intact tissue. Examples of new developments in MRI are given with applications to phenotyping specific transgenic and knockout mouse models. Some conjecture is offered on integrating MRI into functional genomics.