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Review TRENDS in Biotechnology Vol.19 No.11 November 2001 463 Microarrays: handling the deluge of data and extracting reliable information Kenneth R. Hess, Wei Zhang, Keith A. Baggerly, David N. Stivers and Kevin R. Coombes Application of powerful, high-throughput genomics technologies is becoming probe spots in a regular pattern. The pattern is more common and these technologies are evolving at a rapid pace. Genomics usually a rectangular grid and often has a facilities are being established in major research institutions to produce hierarchical arrangement of subgrids (Fig. 1). inexpensive, customized cDNA microarrays that are accessible to researchers in Unfortunately, printing problems, membrane a broad range of fields. These high-throughput platforms have generated a distortion or image registration problems require massive onslaught of data, which threatens to overwhelm researchers. that the software accurately locates each individual Although microarrays show great promise, the technology has not matured to spot before quantification; commercial the point of consistently generating robust and reliable data when used in the quantification software is available for this. average laboratory. This article addresses several aspects related to the handling However, it is often necessary to manually adjust of the deluge of microarray data and extracting reliable information from these subgrid and/or spot alignment (Fig. 2) – this is data. We review the essential elements of data acquisition, data processing and particularly true for poor quality images. Because data analysis, and briefly discuss issues related to the quality, validation and problems at