MetaFIND: A feature analysis tool for metabolomics data

Background: Metabolomics, or metabonomics, refers to the quantitative analysis of all metabolites present within a biological sample and is generally carried out using NMR spectroscopy or Mass Spectrometry. Such analysis produces a set of peaks, or features, indicative of the metabolic composition of the sample and may be used as a basis for sample classification. Feature selection may be employed to improve classification accuracy or aid model explanation by establishing a subset of class discriminating features. Factors such as experimental noise, choice of technique and threshold selection may adversely affect the set of selected features retrieved. Furthermore, the high dimensionality and multi-collinearity inherent within metabolomics data may exacerbate discrepancies between the set of features retrieved and those required to provide a complete explanation of metabolite signatures. Given these issues, the latter in particular, we present the MetaFIND application for 'post-f...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Kenneth Bryan, Lorraine Brennan, Padraig Cunningham
• Keywords: BMCBI 2008, Feature Selection, Metabolites, Metabolomics Data