Transcriptomic methods measure the expression of RNA transcripts throughout the genome. RNA is transcribed from DNA, the genetic code. Some forms of RNA are translated into proteins, which form the machinery of the cell. Unlike DNA sequence, which is the same in all normal cells in the body throughout the lifetime, RNA expression depends on tissue or cell type, disease status, and environmental factors. Therefore, RNA expression may be more closely related to clinical outcomes.
Previously, transcriptomic analyses have used microarrays. Now such analyses largely rely on RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), which can quantify not only messenger RNAs, which code for proteins, but also other types of RNA, such as microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs, which regulate gene expression.
Channing Division of Network Medicine (CDNM) investigators have generated gene expression data in samples from subjects with respiratory disease and cancer, such as:
Since gene expression is dynamic and highly regulated, it lends itself to methods development and applications in genomic data integration and methods development, including: