Perspectives on Statistical Analyses of Microarray Data

Abstract

Before undertaking any statistical data analysis, it is fundamental to understand the nature of the measurements being made. For gene expression microarrays, it is not as widely appreciated as it should be that the measurements are fluorescent intensities, while the biological investigations are concerned with target concentrations. What is the relationship between these intensities and corresponding concentrations? The first part of the talk will explore this question, using data from spike-in experiments. To provide insight into (microarray) data and the resultant analyses, graphical displays can play a central role. In particular, visualisation of gene expression profiles can potentially contribute to the identification of co-regulated genes and gene function as well as network development. Using gene expression data from a well-known yeast time course experiment, the second part of this talk will introduce two very useful visualisation tools that assist in clarification and interpretation of the patterns found using different modelling approaches.