1 Dna Microarray Image Processing

Microarray data processing spans a large number of research themes starting from (1) microarray image analysis, (2) data cleaning and pre-processing, semantic integration of heterogeneous, distributed bio-medical databases, (3) exploration of existing data mining tools for bio-data analysis, and (4) development of advanced, effective, and scalable data mining methods in bio-data analysis [9]. The objective of any microarray data analysis is to draw biologically meaningful conclusions [12], [38]. In order to support this objective, we will focus on microarray image processing issues in this chapter. We provide an overview of microarray technologies, overall microarray data processing workflow and management, microarray layout and file format, image processing requirements and existing spot variations, and image processing steps. The image processing steps outlined in this chapter include grid alignment, foreground separation, spot quality assessment, data quantification and normalization.