The Lumi Project

We got our first request of Illumina microarray data analysis a couple of weeks ago. Using the "affy" package to treat it as a single-color array, we found the results unsatisfying. Thus, we started developing a new R/Bioconductor package specially designed for the Illumina platform.

We need a name for this new package!

After having some comfy food at a lunch break with Sean Whitaker, Dave Knapik, Dong Fu and Edgar Garcia, we decided to name the new R package “lumi”.

It rhymes well with the existing “affy” package. The other candidates were “luminati”, “luminata”, and “loomy”, but most of them were taken at this blog website.

Dong suggested there might be a cartoon character called “lumi”. Indeed, we found it at www.loomy.net. For $18, you can get a loomy mascot at
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=215120

Now, we have got a project code name and a cute mascot! Ready to work on the algorithms.