Ratio-based decisions and the quantitative analysis of cDNA micro-array images
US6245517A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 28, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jun 12, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 28, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG16B25/00
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Gene expression can be quantitatively analyzed by hybridizing fluor-tagged mRNA to targets on a cDNA micro-array. Comparison of gene expression levels arising from co-hybridized samples is achieved by taking ratios of average expression levels for individual genes. In an image-processing phase, a method of image segmentation identifies cDNA target sites in a cDNA micro-array image. The resulting cDNA target sites are analyzed based on a hypothesis test and confidence interval to quantify the significance of observed differences in expression ratios. In particular, the probability density of the ratio and the maximum-likelihood estimator for the distribution are derived, and an iterative procedure for signal calibration is developed.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.