Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
example, once the experiment is designed using gene data gleaned from an online database, the
microarray containing the clones of interest has to be designed and manufactured. After hybridization
with cDNA or RNA from tissue samples, the chips are optically scanned and the relative intensity of
fluorescent markers on the images are analyzed and stored. The data are subsequently subject to
further image processing and gene expression analysis.
Figure 3-1. Microarray Laboratory Network. The computers in a typical
microarray laboratory present a mixture of data formats, operating
systems, and processing capabilities. The network in this example, a wired
and wireless local area network (LAN), supports the microarray laboratory
processes, from experimental design and array fabrication to expression
analysis and publishing of results.
In this example, the server provides a gateway or access point to the Internet to access the national
databases for gene data analysis. Individual computers, running different operating systems, share
access to data generated by the microarray image scanner as soon as it's generated. For example,
even though a workstation may be running MacOS, UNIX, Linux, or some version of the Windows
operating system, and the microarray image scanner controller operates under a proprietary
operating system, the network provides a common communications channel for sharing and
capturing data from the experiment as well as making sense of it through computer-based analysis.
The network also supports the sharing of resources, such as printers, modems, plotters, and other
networked peripherals. In addition, a wireless extension of the network allows the researchers to
share the wireless laptop for manipulating the data, such as by transforming spot data from the
image analysis workstation to array data that can be manipulated by a variety of complex data-
manipulation utilities. In this context, the purpose of the LAN is to provide instantaneous connectivity
between the various devices in the laboratory, thereby facilitating the management, storage, and use
of the data.
Consider the process without the network depicted in Figure 3-1 . The gene analysis workstation
would have to be connected directly to the Internet—a potentially dangerous proposition without a
software or hardware firewall or safety barrier to guard against potential hackers. Similarly, the
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