PCR & Molecular Diagnostics Fundamentals

Molecular testing moved from specialist labs into everyday use during COVID-19, and it now runs through clinical, food, pharmaceutical and environmental testing. This SkillCert Practitioner course explains how it works, step by step. You follow a sample from collection and nucleic acid extraction, through the PCR reaction and thermal cycling, to gel results, amplification curves and Ct values. You then learn how controls, clean workflows and assay performance decide whether a result can be trusted, and where newer methods such as LAMP, digital PCR and sequencing fit. Examples come from laboratories in India, the UAE and the UK. The course covers theory, principles and result interpretation; it does not include hands-on laboratory training.

Molecular methods are now routine in hospital, public health, food, pharmaceutical and research laboratories, and employers expect new staff to understand how results are produced and checked. This course gives you the vocabulary and judgement to start work in a molecular laboratory with confidence, and a strong base for hands-on training.