- Course overview
- Search within this course
- What is ArrayExpress?
- How are datasets submitted and stored in ArrayExpress?
- How to search ArrayExpress
- Experiment and sample information
- Next steps (towards data analysis)
- Summary
- Quiz: Check your learning
- Your feedback
- Learn more
- Get help and support on ArrayExpress
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Files and download
Most of the experiments in ArrayExpress contain raw data files, and many of these have additional processed data files (but not all experiments have both raw data and processed data). There are several types of data files associated with each experiment that can be downloaded.
Metadata
Name: IDF file
Type: tab-delimited text file
Job: Contains information about the experiment, e.g. description, author, protocols
Best view: Open with spreadsheet software, e.g. Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc
Example: E-MEXP-3682_idf.txt
Name: SDRF file
Type: Tab-delimited text file
Job: Represents the relationship between samples and data files
Best view: Open with spreadsheet software, e.g. Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc
Example: E-MEXP-3682_sdrf.txt
Looking at this file will help you find which files belong to each sample and the experimental conditions to be compared, e.g. which files belong to the control group and which to the test group. Sometimes the file names do not contain any clues, so the information in this file will be vital.