The control of proliferation, differentiation and survival of normal and malignant haemopoietic cells is under the control of a wide range of different factors. These include cell:cell interactions, immune regulatory factors, hormonal influences, and local environmental influences. However, the way in which these factors combine to regulate the dynamics of the leukaemic cell are poorly understood. One of the main problems in conducting these experiments is the logistical difficulty in comparing multiple variables. For example, to design an experiment to simulate and study a biological system that involves 13 factors each at 3 different levels requires 1,594,323 experimental runs. Taguchi methods, on the other hand, use orthogonal arrays to create smaller, less costly experiments that have a high rate of reproducibility. A study involving 13 factors at 3 different concentrations can be conducted with only 27 experimental runs. The use of Taguchi methods in the discipline of life scienceis in its very early stages, as very limited number of experiments in this field have been designed and analysed according to the Taguchi methodology. This study was thus set to investigate the suitability of Taguchi methods to study a biological problem with multiple factors involved and poorly understood mechanisms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:368944 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | El-Morsi, Hisham |
| Publisher | Kingston University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/20677/ |
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