MIAME (Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment) is a standard for exchanging microarray experimental data in such a way as to make it easily interpreted and allow for easy and independent verification. It is described in the abstract of the original MIAME proposal [1] as follows:
Microarray analysis has become a widely used tool for the generation of gene expression data on a genomic scale. Although many significant results have been derived from microarray studies, one limitation has been the lack of standards for presenting and exchanging such data. Here we present a proposal, the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME), that describes the minimum information required to ensure that microarray data can be easily interpreted and that results derived from its analysis can be independently verified. The ultimate goal of this work is to establish a standard for recording and reporting microarray-based gene expression data, which will in turn facilitate the establishment of databases and public repositories and enable the development of data analysis tools. With respect to MIAME, we concentrate on defining the content and structure of the necessary information rather than the technical format for capturing it.
Thus MIAME compliance provides the minimum information required to interpret unambiguously and potentially reproduce and verify an array-based gene expression monitoring experiment. Although details for particular experiments may be different, MIAME aims to define the core that is common to most experiments. MIAME is not a formal specification, but a set of guidelines.
One of the major objectives of MIAME is to guide the development of microarray databases and data management software. A standard microarray data model and exchange format MAGE [2], which is able to capture information specified by MIAME, has been submitted by EBI (for MGED) and Rosetta Biosoftware, and recently became an Adopted Specification of the OMG standards group. Many organizations, including Agilent, Affymetrix, and Iobion, have contributed ideas to MAGE.
Although MIAME concentrates on the content of the information and should not be confused with a data format, it also tries to provide a conceptual structure for microarray experiment descriptions [3].
It is therefore of crucial importance that all users of the PhenoGen site closely conform to these guidelines. To ensure this, the website is structured in such a way that very little room is given for non-conformity.
[1] Nature Genetics, December 2001, 29:365 – 371. http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/ng/journal/v29/n4/abs/ng1201-365.html