Experimental design is a critical, yet highly underappreciated, component of microarray experiments. ArrayXpress understands the importance of experimental design and our statisticians will work with you to design an experiment customized for your needs.

The three basic principles of experimental design are replication, randomization, and blocking. Experimental design methods are used to develop processes affected minimally by external sources of variability. Such robust methods are important in DNA array technology to both minimize experimental costs and yield high quality data.

Issues in experimental design for microarray projects include, replication (within or between slides replicates and biological or technical replicates), sample size, dye assignments, and combining data across slides and sets of experiments.

Our statisticians utilize state of the art experimental design methodologies to reach meaningful biological conclusions. Design decisions are guided by the knowledge of which effects are of greater interest to the investigator (main effects, interactions). We will work with you to develop the most efficient and effective design for your project.