MeLSI

MeLSI (Metric Learning for Statistical Inference) is a novel machine learning method for microbiome data analysis that learns optimal distance metrics to improve statistical power in detecting group differences. Unlike traditional distance metrics (Bray-Curtis, Euclidean, Jaccard), MeLSI adapts to the specific characteristics of your dataset to maximize separation between groups. The method uses an ensemble of weak learners to identify which microbial features drive group differences, providing both improved statistical power and biological interpretability through feature importance weights.