DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS

In this article the author reviews and presents the theory involved in the design of experiments for parameter estimation, a process of impo rtance for pharmacokinetics, ths study of intermediary metabolism and othe sections of biological research. The design of experiments involv es both formal and informal aspects. The formal theories of identifiab ility of parameters and model distinguishability, and the generatioon of optimal sampling schedules, play major roles. After presenting thes e theories, both the formal and informal aspects are studied in the ex amination of a simple but realistic example. (C) 1997 The Franklin Ins titute. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.