Compression of microarray images

DNA microarrays have become a tool of paramount importance in the study of gene function, regulation, and interaction across large numbers of genes, and even entire genomes (Hegde et al., 2000; Moore, 2001). Microarray experiments generate pairs of 16 bits per pixel grayscale images (see Fig. 1, for an example). These images, which may require several tens of megabytes in order to be stored or transmitted, are analyzed by software tools that extract relevant information, such as the intensity of the spots and the background level. This information is then used for evaluating the expression level of individual genes (Hegde et al., 2000; Moore, 2001).