Patent ID: 7363165

Claim:
A method for analyzing a plurality of sets of values associated with a plurality of genes to identify genes whose associated values differ by an amount of statistical significance among the sets, said associated values comprising levels of mRNA or protein, said associated values acquired by a process where biological samples containing said plurality of genes are hybridized to one or more microarrays of probes, thus measuring the levels of mRNA or protein in the biological samples, wherein the method comprises: providing for each of the plurality of genes a parameter that contains information concerning differences in the associated values of that gene among the sets; adjusting the parameters of the plurality of genes so that variables related to the parameters are substantially independent of variations of scatter values or average associated values of the genes over the sets, said scatter values defined by the standard deviation of the associated values in the sets; deriving an observed value and an expected value of the adjusted parameter for each gene from the sets of associated values, said expected value being indicative of the extent of variations in the adjusted parameter introduced by the process; comparing the observed and expected values of the parameter to identify genes whose associated values differ by an amount of statistical significance among the sets; and providing for use by a user a list of genes whose associated values differ by an amount of statistical significance among the sets.