Overview of the Tools for Microarray Analysis

Abstract

In the infancy of the computer revolution of the 1960s, Moore’ s law, which stated that personal computer speeds would double every 18–24 mo, was coined. A similar law of genomic data could be stated today. The genomic revolution has changed the way that molecular biology is carried out and has necessitated a brand new field of scientific endeavor, bioinformatics. With the increasing number of whole genome sequences being completed, including the recent reports of the completion of the human genome sequence and that of the mouse, it is becoming increasingly possible to study the effects of multiple perturbations on several complex and interconnected gene-signaling pathways. As molecular biology moves to this systems approach to understanding the complex control mechanisms mediating growth, development, and differentiation, the amount of data generated is staggering. Bioinformatics is, among other things, the science of building novel approaches and new tools capable of sorting through vast quantities of genomic data and enabling molecular biologists to draw meaningful conclusions from their data.