Microarray technology is confronted by the challenges of developing robust hardware platforms and managing the massive amounts of information that is generated. The fundamental hardware challenge has been mostly resolved, but the magnitude of the bioinformatics hurdle is just becoming apparent. This session will review the issues associated with successful utilization of large-scale functional genomics technologies. Such utilization critically depends on robust, efficient systems for tracking and managing material and information flow. An example will be described of a comprehensive system that standardizes information management across hardware platforms, integrating experimental design, data analysis, and results interpretation to provide a synergistic view to the researcher. The first step in a microarray experiment involves the design and fabrication of an array. The bioinformatics aspect of this crucial step will be considered in detail. After the microarray hybridization experiment, an image of the array is obtained and analyzed in a highly accurate and unbiased manner by a walk-away technology from BioDiscovery. Expression parameters are computed, which describe the expression of each gene and provide statistical information about the quality of the data. Finally, to evaluate the behaviors of various genes, it is essential to mine the data, using various computational techniques, for verification of hypothesis or further explorations. The BioDiscovery system provides a universal, scalable, and platform-independent architecture that facilitates efficient microarray project management via a common interface linking the information used and produced at each stage of the project.
This page last updated Monday, 11-Feb-2002 12:52:28 EST