Genetic analysis can be used generally to describe methods both used in and resulting from the sciences of genetics

Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....

 and molecular biology

Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...

, or to applications

Applied research

Applied research is a form of systematic inquiry involving the practical application of science. It accesses and uses some part of the research communities' accumulated theories, knowledge, methods, and techniques, for a specific, often state, business, or client driven purpose...

 resulting from this research.

Genetic analysis may be done to identify genetic/inherited disorders and also to make a differential diagnosis in certain somatic diseases such as cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. Genetic analyses of cancer include detection of mutation

Mutation

In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...

s, fusion gene

Fusion gene

A fusion gene is a hybrid gene formed from two previously separate genes. It can occur as the result of a translocation, interstitial deletion, or chromosomal inversion...

s, and DNA copy number changes.

Genetic analyses include molecular technologies such as PCR, RT-PCR, DNA sequencing

DNA sequencing

DNA sequencing includes several methods and technologies that are used for determining the order of the nucleotide bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a molecule of DNA....

, and DNA microarrays, and cytogenetic

Cytogenetics

Cytogenetics is a branch of genetics that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the cell, especially the chromosomes. It includes routine analysis of G-Banded chromosomes, other cytogenetic banding techniques, as well as molecular cytogenetics such as fluorescent in situ...

 methods such as karyotyping and fluorescence in situ hybridisation.

Please note: This field is fast-changing, definitions are in flux, there is historical and contemporary overlap of the following categories, and phrases like "the results of genetic analysis" can indicate any or all of the following, depending on the facts of the matter being described.

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