in silico
Phase 1 : In Silico Validation
- Objectif
- Determine whether existing public datasets and computational models support the hypothesis that glial morphological changes are a reliable proxy for synaptic remodeling, and estimate the minimum effect size detectable by HCS.
- Coût estimé
- €500-2000
- Durée estimée
- 4-6 weeks
- Critères de réussite
- Effect size for glial process length change · Cohen’s d ≥ 0.8 (large effect) for at least one sensory stimulation paradigm · (Meta-analysis of public datasets using Hedges' g correction for small samples)
- Minimum sample size feasibility · N ≤ 10 brains per group for 80% power to detect 20% change · (Power simulation using estimated CV from public data)
- Classification accuracy of morphological states · AUC ≥ 0.75 on held-out test set · (Random forest classifier with 5-fold cross-validation)
- Pathway activation confirmation · At least 2 of 3 target pathways (ERK, Draper, 5-HT2A) significantly enriched (FDR < 0.05) · (Enrichr or DAVID analysis of RNA-seq data)
- On continue si
- All four success criteria are met (effect size ≥ 0.8, sample size ≤ 10 brains, AUC ≥ 0.75, pathway enrichment confirmed).
- On arrête si
- Effect size < 0.5 (small effect) OR required sample size > 20 brains per group OR AUC < 0.6 OR no pathway enrichment.
- On réoriente si
- Effect size moderate (0.5-0.8) but sample size > 10 brains: consider switching to a more sensitive imaging modality (e.g., STED) or increasing number of morphological descriptors.
- Risques
- Public datasets may not have sufficient resolution or glial subtype specificity (e.g., astrocytes vs. microglia).Probabilité : mediumParade : Use multiple datasets from different labs; if resolution insufficient, simulate lower-resolution data to test robustness.
- RNA-seq data may not cover the exact time window (1-6 hours) or cell type.Probabilité : mediumParade : Use time-series data from related studies (e.g., [2024] ERK paper); if unavailable, proceed with pathway inference from phosphoproteomics data.
- Machine learning model may overfit due to small dataset size.Probabilité : lowParade : Use regularized random forest (e.g., ranger package) and nested cross-validation; report out-of-bag error.