Abstract: Embodiments of this invention include application of new inferential methods to analysis of complex biological information, including gene networks. In some embodiments, disruptant data and/or drug induction/inhibition data are obtained simultaneously for a number of genes in an organism. New methods include modifications of Boolean inferential methods and application of those methods to determining relationships between expressed genes in organisms. Additional new methods include modifications of Bayesian inferential methods and application of those methods to determining cause and effect relationships between expressed genes, and in some embodiments, for determining upstream effectors of regulated genes. Additional modifications of Bayesian methods include use of heterogeneous variance and different curve fitting methods, including spline functions, to improve estimation of graphs of networks of expressed genes.

Abstract: Embodiments of methods are provided that can be used to estimate network relationships between genes of an organism using time course expression data and a set of linear differential equations. Aikaike's Information Criterion and mask tools can be used to reduce the number of elements in a matrix by determining which elements are zero or not significantly changed under the conditions of the study. Maximum likelihood estimation and new statistical methods are used to evaluate the significance of a proposed network relationship.