Chapter 9 The Role of Exploratory Data Analysis in the Development of Novel Antiviral Compounds

Abstract

This chapter discusses the role of exploratory data analysis in the development of novel antiviral compounds. Exploratory data analysis is a part of the inductive approach to scientific discovery. Deductive methods proceed from established models to planned experiments and the collection of new experimental facts, whereas induction works the other way around: data are collected and analyzed to obtain a tentative working hypothesis. Induction and deduction are complementary. It appears that inductive methods are applied most profitably in those areas where formal models are lacking. This is the case in many fields of biology and medicine, especially in the search for novel therapeutic agents. The method of exploratory data analysis is called spectral map analysis (SMA). SMA is developed for the visualization (or mapping) of activity spectra of the chemical compounds that are tested in a battery of pharmacological assays. SMA involves numerous steps, such as logarithmic transformation of a data table X with n rows and m columns, which produces Y. The chapter further discusses the application and its result.