NDSU's next Science Café will explore the topic of gene expression analysis. Megan Orr, assistant professor of statistics, is scheduled to present "Increasing the power of the test: An introduction to gene expression analysis and false discovery rate" Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m. in Stokers Basement, Hotel Donaldson in Fargo. It’s free and open to the public.

According to the abstract for Orr's presentation, the prevalence of high-dimensional data has skyrocketed in recent years because of advances in technology. This is especially true in experiments where mRNA transcripts, known as gene expressions, are measured for thousands of genes simultaneously. A goal in the analysis of these experiments is to identify genes that exhibit a change in mean expression levels across treatments.

Orr's talk will focus on the analysis of gene expression data sets and illustrate why using traditional techniques is inappropriate. The false discovery rate, a common measure used to control for multiple testing error that leads to higher power for detecting differential expression, will be introduced.

Orr, who earned her doctorate at Iowa State University, lists gene expression analysis, high-dimensional data analysis and multiple testing as her research interests.

Attendees must be 21 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian. For more information, contact Diane Goede at diane.goede@ndsu.edu or 701-231-7412.

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