Gene Expression Commons: an open platform for absolute gene expression profiling. Mus musculus

Gene expression profiling using microarray has been limited to profiling of differentially expressed genes at comparison setting since probesets for different genes have different sensitivities. We overcome this limitation by using a very large number of varied microarray datasets as a common reference, so that statistical attributes of each probeset, such as dynamic range or a threshold between low and high expression can be reliably discovered through meta-analysis. This strategy is implemented in web-based platform named “Gene Expression Commons” (http://gexc.stanford.edu/ ) with datasets of 39 distinct highly purified mouse hematopoietic stem/progenitor/functional cell populations covering almost the entire hematopoietic system. Since the Gene Expression Commons is designed as an open platform, any scientist can explore gene expression of any gene, search by expression pattern of interest, submit their own microarray datasets, and design their own working models. Overall design: Gene expression profiling of entire mouse hematopoiesis system (39 populations) by Gene Expression Commons system. The Samples (101) below comprise new and re-processed data and represent 37 populations. The complete dataset comprising new, re-processed, and third-party reanalyzed data (107 samples), and representing all 39 populations, is linked below as a supplementary file.