Table of Contents

Introduction

The high-throughput studies on genomic aberrations, methylation state and expression changes of genes, carried out in our division, can only be realized with the help of computer-aided data analysis. Our BioInformatics group develops an integrated data processing and analysis platform for this purpose. The platform enables us to address a diverse number of the most challenging scientific questions.

Technologies

The modular nature of our platform entails that it can easily be extended. More specifically, the platform comprises several MySQL databases, which are accessed via a web interface based on PHP, Java and Perl. We enriched the interface by DOM implementation throughout.

Computing Scope

We cover all stages of a microarray study: from chip production up to and including statistical evaluation of the resulting experimental data. Platform access is universal, real-time and networked. It is possible to access a number of different modules like quality control, documentation or data analysis, for example..

Statistical Methods

Our statistical analysis modules utilize in major parts the R programming environment, as well as several Bioconductor packages. We make heavy use of our in-house, high-performance clusters by distributed computing this insuring close to real-time processing.