Microarray Bioinformatics [Hardcover]

Dov Stekel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0521819822 | ISBN-13: 978-0521819824 | Edition: 1

DNA microarrays have revolutionized molecular biology and are becoming a standard tool in the field. Dov Stekel's book is a comprehensive guide to the mathematics, statistics, and computing required to use microarrays successfully. Unlike traditional molecular biology, the successful use of DNA microarrays requires the application of statistics and computing to design the arrays and experiments, and to analyze and manage the data. This book is written for researchers, clinicians, and laboratory managers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...excellent and clearly written...concise and most informative, a pleasure to read. It should be examined by anyone interested in this means of analysis."
ASM News

"The book would be ideal for biologists who wish to gain a grasp of the different analysis techniques available to the microarray user."
Society for General Microbiology

Book Description

DNA microarrays have revolutionised molecular biology and are becoming a standard tool in the field. Unlike traditional molecular biology, the successful use of DNA microarrays requires a substantial use of statistics and computing, to design the arrays, design the experiments, and to analyze and manage the data. This book is written for researchers, clinicians, laboratory heads and managers, from both laboratory and bioinformatics backgrounds, who work, or intend to work with microarrays. It is a comprehensive guide to the mathematics, statistics and computing required to use microarrays successfully.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (September 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521819822
• ISBN-13: 978-0521819824
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,809,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Microarrays Lite, December 8, 2003

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Microarray Bioinformatics (Hardcover)

It just doesn't have the detail I wanted.

There's a lot to like here. Stekel covers everything, starting with selecting the probes and printing the arrays. Next comes raw array analysis - scanning, image processing, and measuring the effects of the array itself on the results. That covers the first six chapters. The next three go over analysis of the result, one more chapter covers experimential design, and the last chapter discusses storing, labelling, and sharing the data. Some of those topics, like experiment design, address issues that most other authors neglect.

Still, I came away feeling that I had read only half of each chapter. Going back, it turned out that I hadn't missed anything that really was there. I missed a lot, though. For example, probe selection includes a discussion of self-hybridization - good stuff. It stopped short of giving me any clear idea how much self-complementarity is too much. It mentioned DNA melting points, but without enough information for me to understand what is really melting, or how or why to choose one melting point over another. Handling of raw array data discussed Loess regression as a way to cancel out process differences across a single array. Again, it's good stuff, but what exactly is a Loess regression? Expression analysis mentions Spearman correlation as an alternative to Pearson correlation - it give Pearson's formulas, but not Spearman's. Later, when the author does give a "formula" for selecting sample sizes, it turns out to be some macro reference for some stat package. Throughout the book, I felt the same lack: I learned the names of many things, but not what they really are.

Maybe this book is OK for a first introduction. If you've had that introduction and want to take the second steps, this book probably won't meet your needs.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are new to microarray, get this book., May 15, 2005

By 

Ryosuke Kadoi (Fairfax, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Microarray Bioinformatics (Paperback)

This book describes basic concepts and procedures for those who are new to microarray. I'd recommend that a reader should use this book to grasp what microarray is. You won't be able to know anything in depth from this book but it will be nice to have this if you have trouble in understanding a more challenging book. Once you read this book, please go ahead and read another book since this book doesn't tell you everything about microarray. It's just a basic overview... i was glad that I used this book as my first microarray textbook....

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good introduction to microarray bioinformatics, March 28, 2009

By 

postdoc (los angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microarray Bioinformatics (Paperback)

This is a very clearly written and easy to read introduction to microarray bioinformatics. It builds a basic basis of knowledge in a very short time, so it is a great start for beginners in the field. By the end of the book you also have a pretty clear sense of what you might want to read in more depth. It does not treat any of the subjects in great detail, but does have reading suggestions for each chapter, including books and original papers. Also, the bioinformatics concepts are explained in a very logical and easy to grasp manner, so the biologist or physician with no computational background will find it particularly useful.