PARENT SESSION21. Use of SPC and DOE in Environmental Toxicology.
Saturday, 16 November 2002
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Room 250 B
Bioassays are widely used in environmental toxicology. Since living organisms are employed, there is usually increased variability in the testing system compared to systems that do not involve living organisms. The ultimate result of the potentially large variability in bioassays is that the ability to detect toxicity is compromised. In the past years, a lot of efforts have been made to obtain and interpret the results of bioassays, and not enough attention has been paid to improving the consistency of the bioassays. Since the performance of a bioassay can be affected by several operating factors, among which interactions may be present, effectively optimize consistency as well as other aspects of the performance of a bioassay requires careful study. This course focuses on Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Design of Experiments (DOE), two useful statistical tools in both laboratory research and industrial production. SPC helps identify the sources of and subsequently reduce the variability in a system and DEO can be used to efficiently optimize the operations of a system. Although this course is initiated by limitations of bioassays, the extension of the concepts and methods of SPC and DOE to other areas of environmental toxicology is direct.
Level of difficulty: Introductory
Attendance limit: 50
Instructors:
Mary G. Leitnaker, University of Tennessee
Ms. Catherine L. Cheng, Eli Lilly and Company
Shijin Ren, University of Tennessee