title: ChromA: signal-based retention time alignment for chromatography-mass spectrometry data.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  We describe ChromA, a web-based alignment tool for chromatography-mass spectrometry data from the metabolomics and proteomics domains. Users can supply their data in open and standardized file formats for retention time alignment using dynamic time warping with different configurable local distance and similarity functions. Additionally, user-defined anchors can be used to constrain and speedup the alignment. A neighborhood around each anchor can be added to increase the flexibility of the constrained alignment. ChromA offers different visualizations of the alignment for easier qualitative interpretation and comparison of the data. For the multiple alignment of more than two data files, the center-star approximation is applied to select a reference among input files to align to.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ChromA is available at http://bibiserv.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/chroma. Executables and source code under the L-GPL v3 license are provided for download at the same location.
authors.affiliation: Genome Informatics, Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stoye
mesh_terms: D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software