Testing and evaluation of microarray image analysis software

The paper describes a novel approach to the microarray image simulation in order to provide researchers with a tool for testing and evaluating the performance of analysis software. Characteristics of a given microarray experiment are captured from public databases. Extracted data are then used for generating a synthetic microarray image and the corresponding ground truth data (i.e. the gene expression values). Given a particular experiment, and/or a specific hardware, and/or a software tool for microarray image analysis and so on, we use raw data obtained in identical or similar conditions to model simulated images with known values of gene activation. Hence, using the simulated images as benchmark, one can estimate expected errors and choose the most suitable analysis software for the real experiment.