Patent ID: 8447526

Claim:
A method of determining an effect of a perturbation on a biological variable in one or more cells of a cell type relative to one or more cells of said cell type under a reference condition, comprising (a) determining, using a processor, (i) a reference mean y of one or more reference measurements {y i } of said biological variable in one or more respective reference cell samples each comprising one or more cells of said cell type under said reference condition, wherein i=1, 2, . . . , n r , n r being the number of reference measurements; and (ii) a reference error σ y , wherein said reference error comprises a propagated error σ p and a scattered error σ s , said propagated error being determined based on predetermined experiment errors of said reference measurements, and said scattered error being determined based on deviation of each of said reference measurements with respect to said reference mean, the predetermined experiment errors being errors that can be determined without using information gained from error analysis of the one or more reference measurements; (b) determining, using the processor, a metric of difference between (iii) a measurement x of said biological variable in a cell sample comprising one or more cells of said cell type under said perturbation and (iv) said reference mean; and (c) determining, using the processor, an error of said metric using a predetermined experiment error σ x of said measurement x and said reference error σ y , wherein said metric of difference is a ratio of said measurement x and said reference mean y : x/ y ; wherein said error of said metric is determined according to the equation σ ratio = σ Log ⁢ ⁢ x 2 + σ Log ⁢ ⁢ y 2 · x / y _ Log 10 ⁡ ( e ) where σ Log ⁢ ⁢ x = Log 10 ⁡ ( e ) · σ x x and σ Log ⁢ ⁢ y = Log 10 ⁡ ( e ) · σ y y .