Within the past couple of years peptide nucleic acid (PNA) antisense and antigene technology has entered the realm of biological and preclinical studies. This is primarily due to the development of a number of novel methods for more efficient delivery of PNA oligomers to eukaryotic cells. These methods have allowed ex vivo studies on cells in culture to be performed, and parallel in vivo studies are also slowly emerging. Although many issues still need to be resolved and several of the most recent results cannot be rationalized in a straight forward manner by existing knowledge, the immediate future should supply a more solid foundation for assessing the prospects of PNA antisense and antigene technology both in the context of functional genomics and medicine.