Analysis of microarray experiments for pulmonary fibrosis

Microarray technology allows the investigator to examine the simultaneous expression of thousands of genes in a given cell or tissue. Such experiments that probe tens of thousands of genes produce immense amounts of information. In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the availability of tools for analysis of microarray data. Although many commercial tools are being aggressively marketed, we mostly use shareware tools. In this chapter, we present our approach to the analysis of microarray data mainly using tools that were generated by our collaborators or that are freely available. Step-by-step explanations of software operation are provided.