Statistical Tests for Time Course Microarray Experiments

Microarray technology allows the monitoring of expression levels for thousands of genes simultaneously. In time-course experiments in which gene expression is monitored over time we are interested in testing gene expression profiles for different experimental groups. We propose a statistical test based on the ANOVA model to identify genes that have different gene expression profiles among experimental groups in time-course experiments. Using this test, we can detect genes that have different gene expression profiles among experimental groups. The proposed model is illustrated using cDNA microarrays of 3,840 genes obtained in an experiment to search for changes in gene expression profiles during neuronal differentiation of cortical stem cells.