A critical tool
Understanding how genes are turned on or off, a process called gene expression, is an essential part of disease research.
By comparing, for example, how genes are expressed in healthy and diseased samples, scientists can identify genes that cause diseases like cancer, diabetes and neurological disorders, opening the door to new treatments and therapies.
Bioinformatics applies mathematics, statistics and computer science to make sense of complex biological data and biological systems. limma is the leading software package used in bioinformatics for analysing gene expression, and the world’s most downloaded software of its type.
Prof Smyth said modern genomic technologies produced a vast amount of data for researchers to examine.
“My team here at WEHI have for many years been developing the advanced computational and statistical strategies to help analyse and interpret these huge datasets, headlined by limma,” he said.
“Our goal is ultimately to learn more about how diseases originate by examining genetic disruption and how this can be controlled – while freely providing the tools we develop to others around the world so they can do the same.”