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The Library of Integrated Network-Based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) is an NIH Common Fund program that catalogs how human cells globally respond to chemical, genetic, and disease perturbations. Resources generated by LINCS include experimental and computational methods, visualization tools, molecular and imaging data, and signatures. By assembling an integrated picture of the range of responses of human cells exposed to many perturbations, the LINCS program aims to better understand human disease and to advance the development of new therapies. Perturbations under study include drugs, genetic perturbations, tissue micro-environments, antibodies, and disease-causing mutations. Responses to perturbations are measured by transcript profiling, mass spectrometry, cell imaging, and biochemical methods, among other assays. The LINCS program focuses on cellular physiology shared among tissues and cell types relevant to an array of diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and neurodegenerative disorders. This Perspective describes LINCS technologies, datasets, tools, and approaches to data accessibility and reusability.

medvedm@email.uc.edu

Background: The small sample sizes often used for microarray experiments result in poor estimates of variance if each gene is considered independently. Yet accurately estimating variability of gene expression measurements in microarray experiments is essential for correctly identifying differentially expressed genes. Several recently developed methods for testing differential expression of genes utilize hierarchical Bayesian models to "pool" information from multiple genes. We have developed a statistical testing procedure that further improves upon current methods by incorporating the well-documented relationship between the absolute gene expression level and the variance of gene expression measurements into the general empirical Bayes framework.

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