elviscuihan / toxicologyoptdesign

This GitHub is an implementation of the paper 'A Model-based Approach to Designing Developmental Toxicology Experiments using Sea Urchin Embryos' and the associated R Shiny app.

ToxicologyOptDesign

This GitHub is an implementation of the paper A Model-based Approach to Designing Developmental Toxicology Experiments using Sea Urchin Embryos and the associated R Shiny app.

• The associated R Shiny App is available on https://elviscuihan.shinyapps.io/Dc_optimal_design/.

Abstract: The two key aims in this paper are (i) a suggestion to adopt a more quantitative approach to designing a dose-response experiment, and (ii) propose the use of sea urchin embryos as a developmental toxicology model system. The work proposes a departure from the traditional experimental design to determine a dose-response relationship in a developmental toxicology study. It is proposed that a model- based approach to determine a dose-response relationship can provide the most accurate statistical inference for the underlying parameters of interest, which may be estimating one or more model parameters or pre-specified functions of the model parameters, such as lethal dose, at maximal efficiency. When the design criterion or criteria can be determined at the onset, there are demonstrated efficiency gains by using a more carefully selected model-based optimal design as opposed to an ad-hoc empirical design. As an illustration, a model-based approach was theoretically used to construct efficient designs for inference in a developmental toxicity study of sea urchin embryos exposed to trimethoprim. This study compares and contrasts the results obtained using model-based optimal designs versus an ad-hoc empirical design.

Keywords: Approximate Design; D-optimality; Dose-Response; Optimal Experimental Design; Sea Urchin Embryo, Trimethoprim.