The MELANIE project: From a biopsy to automatic protein map interpretation by computer

The goals of the MELANIE project are to determine if disease‐associated patterns can be detected in high resolution two‐dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (HR 2D‐PAGE) images and if a diagnosis can be established automatically by computer. The ELSIE/MELANIE system is a set of computer programs which automatically detect, quantify, and compare protein spots shown on HR 2D‐PAGE images. Classification programs help the physician to find disease‐associated patterns from a given set of two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis images and to form diagnostic rules. Prototype expert systems that use these rules to establish a diagnosis from new HR 2D‐PAGE images have been developed. They successfully diagnosed cirrhosis of the liver and were able to distinguish a variety of cancer types from biopsies known to be cancerous.