heatmap
Definition
A heatmap is a data visualization technique that uses color intensity to represent the magnitude of values across a two-dimensional matrix. In life sciences, heatmaps are extensively used to display gene expression levels, protein abundance, metabolite concentrations, or correlation coefficients across multiple samples or conditions. Each cell in the matrix is colored according to its value, typically using a gradient scale (e.g., red for high expression, blue for low expression). Heatmaps enable researchers to quickly identify patterns, clusters, and outliers in large-scale omics datasets, making them essential for comparative analysis, biomarker discovery, and understanding biological responses to experimental perturbations.
Visualize heatmap in Nodes Bio
Researchers can integrate heatmap data with network visualizations in Nodes Bio to contextualize expression patterns within biological pathways. Node colors or sizes can represent heatmap values, revealing how differentially expressed genes or proteins interact within regulatory networks. This integration helps identify key network hubs showing significant changes across conditions and enables pathway-level interpretation of multi-sample omics data.
Visualization Ideas:
- Gene expression networks with node colors representing heatmap intensity values across treatment conditions
- Protein interaction networks sized by abundance changes from proteomic heatmap data
- Metabolic pathway networks showing enzyme expression patterns from transcriptomic heatmaps
Example Use Case
A cancer researcher analyzes RNA-seq data from 50 tumor samples versus normal tissue, generating a heatmap of 500 differentially expressed genes. By importing this data into Nodes Bio, they overlay expression values onto a protein-protein interaction network, revealing that highly upregulated genes cluster around three major hub proteins. This network-integrated view identifies potential therapeutic targets and suggests coordinated dysregulation of specific signaling pathways, which wasn't apparent from the heatmap alone.