Title: "Making the Most of Microarray Data"
Speaker: Dr. Brynn H. Voy, Staff Scientist Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN
Place: Mechanical Engineering (ME) 161; Tuesday, November 1, 2005; 4:30pm

Abstract

Genes with shared patterns of expression across multiple conditions are likely to represent members of common functional pathways. The increasing availability of microarray gene expression data creates an opportunity to identify heretofore unknown relationships between genes, highlighting the molecular pathways that control cellular function. In turn, the complexity and volume of the data mandate the development of novel computational and statistical approaches to identify these relationships that otherwise lie hidden. We have developed a graph theoretical approach to extract sets of co-regulated genes from global gene expression profiles. This method centers on identifying cliques, sets of genes that are perfectly interconnected based on correlations between their expression levels. We apply this method to identify gene interactions that are activated or repressed upon exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation. Our results suggest that low dose radiation acts through pathways related to inflammation and immunity, rather than DNA damage conventionally associated with exposure to higher radiation levels.


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