Protein interaction data is being generated at unprecedented rates thanks to advancements made in high throughput techniques such as mass spectrometry and DNA microarrays. Biomedical researchers, operating under budgetary constraints, have found it difficult to scale their efforts to keep up with the ever-increasing amount of available data. They often lack the resources and manpower required to analyze the data using existing methodologies. These research deficiencies impede our ability to understand diseases, delay the advancement of clinical therapeutics, and ultimately costs lives. One of the most commonly used techniques to analyze protein interaction data is the construction and visualization of protein interaction networks. This research investigated the effectiveness and efficiency of novel domain-specific algorithms for visualizing protein interaction networks. The existing domain-agnostic algorithms were compared to the novel algorithms using several performance, aesthetic, and biological relevance metrics. The graph drawing algorithms proposed here introduced novel domain-specific forces to the existing force-directed graph drawing algorithms. The innovations include an attractive force and graph coarsening policy based on semantic similarity, and a novel graph refinement algorithm. These experiments have demonstrated that the novel graph drawing algorithms consistently produce more biologically meaningful layouts than the existing methods. Aggregated over the 480 tests performed, and quantified using the Biological Evaluation Percentage metric defined in the Methodology chapter, the novel graph drawing algorithms created layouts that are 237 percent more biologically meaningful than the next best algorithm. This improvement came at the cost of additional edge crossings and smaller minimum angles between adjacent edges, both of which are undesirable aesthetics. The aesthetic and performance tradeoffs are experimentally quantified in this study, and dozens of algorithmically generated graph drawings are presented to visually illustrate the benefits of the novel algorithms. The graph drawing algorithms proposed in this study will help biomedical researchers to more efficiently produce high quality interactive protein interaction network drawings for improved discovery and communication.

Uma representação retangular de um grafo plano G é uma representação de G, onde cada vértice é desenhado como um retângulo de modo que dois retângulos devem compartilhar algum segmento de seus lados se e somente se existe uma aresta em G entre os vértices correspondentes aos retângulos. Ainda, a representação de G deve formar um retângulo e não deve existir buracos, ou seja, toda região interna deve corresponder a algum vértice de G. Um desenho retangular de um grafo plano H é um desenho de H, onde todas as arestas são desenhadas como segmentos horizontais ou verticais. Ainda, todas as faces internas são retângulos e as arestas que incidem na face externa também formam um retângulo. Nesta dissertação, apresentamos os principais trabalhos existentes na literatura para problemas associados à representação retangular. Também apresentamos resultados para problemas associados ao desenho retangular. Por fim, apresentamos o algoritmo que desenvolvemos para determinar as coordenadas dos vértices de um desenho retangular quando a orientação das arestas já foram determinadas. / A rectangular representation of a plane graph G is a representation of G, where each vertex is drawn as a rectangle, such as two rectangles have to share some boundary if and only if exist an edge in G between the corresponding vertices. Also, the representation of G must form a rectangle and does not contain any holes, in other words, every point inside the formed rectangle must correspond to some vertex of G. A rectangular drawing of a plane graph H is a drawing of H, where all edges are drawn either in vertical or in horizontal. Also, every internal face is a rectangle and the edges which are incident in the external face define a rectangle. In this dissertation, we present the main studies in the literature for problems associated with the rectangular representation. We also present results for problems associated with rectangular drawing. Finally, we present the algorithm we developed to determine the coordinates of the vertices of a rectangular drawing when the orientation of the edges have been determined.

Uma representação retangular de um grafo plano G é uma representação de G, onde cada vértice é desenhado como um retângulo de modo que dois retângulos devem compartilhar algum segmento de seus lados se e somente se existe uma aresta em G entre os vértices correspondentes aos retângulos. Ainda, a representação de G deve formar um retângulo e não deve existir buracos, ou seja, toda região interna deve corresponder a algum vértice de G. Um desenho retangular de um grafo plano H é um desenho de H, onde todas as arestas são desenhadas como segmentos horizontais ou verticais. Ainda, todas as faces internas são retângulos e as arestas que incidem na face externa também formam um retângulo. Nesta dissertação, apresentamos os principais trabalhos existentes na literatura para problemas associados à representação retangular. Também apresentamos resultados para problemas associados ao desenho retangular. Por fim, apresentamos o algoritmo que desenvolvemos para determinar as coordenadas dos vértices de um desenho retangular quando a orientação das arestas já foram determinadas. / A rectangular representation of a plane graph G is a representation of G, where each vertex is drawn as a rectangle, such as two rectangles have to share some boundary if and only if exist an edge in G between the corresponding vertices. Also, the representation of G must form a rectangle and does not contain any holes, in other words, every point inside the formed rectangle must correspond to some vertex of G. A rectangular drawing of a plane graph H is a drawing of H, where all edges are drawn either in vertical or in horizontal. Also, every internal face is a rectangle and the edges which are incident in the external face define a rectangle. In this dissertation, we present the main studies in the literature for problems associated with the rectangular representation. We also present results for problems associated with rectangular drawing. Finally, we present the algorithm we developed to determine the coordinates of the vertices of a rectangular drawing when the orientation of the edges have been determined.