Patent ID: 8473217

Claim:
A method for standardizing a test microarray dataset from a test microarray experiment comprising: a) obtaining the test microarray dataset from the test microarray experiment, wherein the test microarray dataset comprises a first plurality of cellular constituents (P 1 ) and wherein each of the first plurality of cellular constituents is associated with an abundance value (x j ); b) providing a standardization data structure comprising (i) a plurality of values of central tendency associated with a second plurality of cellular constituents (P 2 ) and (ii) an identifier associated with each of said second plurality of cellular constituents, each respective cellular constituent in P 2 being selected on the basis of having a low measure of cellular constituent abundance variability across a plurality of training micro array datasets relative to the cellular constituent abundance variability of other cellular constituents in a respective corresponding abundance bin in a plurality of abundance bins associated with the plurality of training microarray datasets; and c) applying the standardization data structure to the first plurality of cellular constituents (P 1 ) in the test microarray dataset using a mathematical transformation, the mathematical transformation comprising applying a smoothing regression which comprises transforming abundance value x j associated with the test microarray dataset into abundance value y j by (i) identifying a subset of cellular constituents in P 1 that have abundance values within a threshold value w of x j , (ii) selecting, by their respective identifiers, a subset of cellular constituents in P 2 that correspond to the subset of cellular constituents in P 1 , and (iii) smoothing, by way of smoothing regression, the values of central tendency of the subset of cellular constituents in P 2 , thereby providing a standardized test microarray dataset, and wherein the above steps a) through c) are performed on a suitably programmed computer.