Cancer Classification with Microarray Data Using Support Vector Machines

Abstract

Microarrays (Schena et al. 1995) are also called gene chips or DNA chips. On a microarray chip, there are thousands of spots. Each spot contains the clone of a gene from one specific tissue. At the same time, some mRNA samples are labeled with two different kinds of dyes, for example,Cy5 (red) and Cy3 (blue). After that, the mRNA samples will be put on the chip and interact with the genes on the chip. This process is called hybridization. After hybridization has finished, the color of each spot on the chip will change. The image of the chip will be scanned out. This image reflects the characteristics of the tissue at the molecular level. If we make microarrays for different tissues, biological and biomedical researchers are able to compare the difference of those tissues at the molecular level. Figure 1 is a description of the process of making microarrays.