Statistics and Data Analysis for Microarrays Using R and Bioconductor, 2nd Edition

Focused microarrays – comparison and selection 891

26.5 Summary

The first step of an experiment involving microarrays will probably be of

an exploratory nature aimed at generating hypotheses. Comprehensive ar-

rays including as many genes as po ssible are useful at this stage. In most

cases, the hypothesis g e ne rating phase will be followed by successive steps

of focused research. Such hypothesis-driven research often concentrates on a

few biological mechanisms and pathways. However, even a single biological

mechanism may still involve hundreds of genes, which may make the microar-

ray appr oach the preferred tactic. If microarrays are to be involv ...