BIOL398-03/S13:Class Journal Week 8

James P. McDonald Week 6 Journal

What aspect of this assignment came most easily to you?
- Determining what the color and shade of the spots would be on the chip when looking at the calculated ratios of the genes.
What aspect of this assignment was the most challenging for you?
- No specific part of the assignment was especially difficult. It just took time to get through the paper and take out specific pieces of information that I analyzed to answer the assignment questions.
What (yet) do you not understand?
- I don't think there was any part of this paper or the assignment that I did not understand. I don't know a lot about computer programming so I don't think I would understand how people have developed programs to interpret and simplify the massive amounts of data present on the microarray chips.
What aspect of microarrays would you like to know more about?
- I would like to know how microarrays could someday be used to determine the the traits of a person or show how a person's genome could point to the potential for contracting diseases. I think this could be very interesting and useful information to have about a specific individual.

James P. McDonald 00:34, 14 March 2013 (EDT)

What aspect of this assignment came most easily to you?
- The reading of the chapter came easiest to me. It was a clear, well written chapter and I'm a good reader.
What aspect of this assignment was most challenging to you?
- I think the challenge for me was making sure I was going in the right direction with the ratios. I understand what they mena and what the colors mean but it's easy to get mixed up.
What (yet) do you not understand?
- I understand the process of producing a microarray in a basic sense but I think I could probably have a fuller understanding of how they are made.
What aspect of microarrays would you like to know more about?

I would like to know more about the process of making the microarrays and the implications of expression profiles.

Ashley Rhoades 14:06, 14 March 2013 (EDT)Ashley RhoadesAshley Rhoades 14:06, 14 March 2013 (EDT)

Analyzing the data on the graphs was the easiest part of the assignment to me.
Choosing the correct color for the ratios was the hardest for me. It is pretty much up to the individual to tell where the ratio falls on the color scale.
I had trouble understanding how to quantify the colored results so exactly.
I would like to know more about the clustering in microarrays and similar expression profiles, and further applications of the microarray.

Kevin Matthew McKay 15:21, 14 March 2013 (EDT)

What aspect of this assignment came most easily to you?
- Understanding the microarray concept was easiest.
What aspect of this assignment was most challenging to you?
- The most challenging was understanding the ratio calculations and the reasoning behind it. Also matching up the ratio values with the colors and what they mean were confusing at first.
What (yet) do you not understand?
- I have a good understanding on the microarray; however, I find it amazing that people can use computer programs for data analysis on such a large number of genes.
What aspect of microarrays would you like to know more about?

I would like to know more about the process of making the microarrays and the implications of expression profiles.

- I would like to know more about expression profiles of specific genes and how they affect different processes. I think learning about how microarrays have been used for biomedical research would be interesting as well.

Laura Terada 15:56, 14 March 2013 (EDT)