Microarrays Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Microarrays, including details on experiments, designs, statistics, analysis, software.

Microarray technology in the study of obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Baranova A, Schlauch K, Gowder S, Collantes R, Chandhoke V, Younossi ZM

Center for the Study of Genomics in Liver Diseases, Molecular and Microbiology Department, George Mason University and Center for Liver Diseases, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA 22042, USA.

The recent development of high-throughput gene expression technology permits simultaneous investigation of thousands of genes, providing a snapshot of the transcription state of diseased tissue. Microarray-based expression profiling is well suited to investigate the molecular basis of complex diseases such as obesity and chronic liver disease. With the help of microarray technology, functional genomics will surely advance our understanding of these diseases, and lead to more effective, targeted interventions that lack the toxicity of many conventional treatments. Despite their tremendous potential, microarray studies are subject to potential flaws in experimental design, experimental techniques, data analysis, and data interpretation. Besides the technical issues, the most important challenge is to develop integrative databases that combine gene expression data with the clinical data. Over the next few years, advances in technology and refinements in study design and data analysis will make clinically relevant translational research even more engaging and productive.

Published 13 December 2005 in Liver Int, 25(6): 1091-6.
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