Automated experiment design

The above limitations have motivated the development of automated approaches for identifying intrinsic relationships between different genes and physiologic conditions. In the most basic form such unsupervised clustering approaches (Kohonen, 1997) take a broad set of expression experiments designed in aggregate to elicit most if not all of... 

The Optimization Xpert Automated design of experiments that builds on the foundation established in Setup Xpert and allows users to further optimize the combination of processing parameters to determine a robust good parts processing window. 

The Production Xpert A comprehensive production monitoring and control system that will maintain the optimized processing conditions determined with MPX s automated design of experiments. 

Four different types of tasks are performed by automation. Two involve the sequencing of valves and pumps Involved 1n the setup and completion of the designed experiment through the operation of the test and hydraulic fluid systems. The other tasks involve the control of the temperature bath and data collection. To perform these tasks, a1r-actuated solenoids and optically coupled sol Id-state relays are used. These devices are controlled by an electrical circuit consisting of the device connected 1n series with a power supply and a channel on the actuator card In the HP 3497. The power supply 1s either 24 VDC for use with the solenoids or 5 VDC for the solid-state relays. The actuator output channel acts as a simple on/off switch which allows power to be supplied to the solenoid or relay when closed. The logic of the circuit 1s controlled by application programs running on the local HP 1000. 

As previously discussed, compound form differs markedly between early discovery and the late discovery/development interface. The early discovery compound is poorly characterized as to its crystalline form - it may be nonsolid, amorphous, or possibly crystalline but uncharacterized as to polymorphic form. The late discovery/development interface compound is crystalline as defined by phase-contract microscopy or powder X-ray diffraction, and its polymorphic and salt form is frequently characterized. This difference has profound implications for the design of a discovery solubility assay. The key question is this Is it better to design an early discovery solubility assay as a separate type of experiment, or is it better to try to automate a traditional thermodynamic solubility assay to handle the very large number of compounds likely to be encountered in early discovery Another way to state this question is this Does it make sense to run a thermodynamic solubility assay on poorly crystalline early discovery compounds This is the type of question about which reasonable people could disagree. However, this author does have a distinct opinion. It is much better to set up a distinctively different solubility assay in early discovery and to maintain a clear distinction between the assay type appropriate in early discovery and the assay type appropriate at the late discovery/ development interface. Two issues are relevant to this opinion One relates to the need for a solubility assay to reflect/predict early discovery stage oral absorption and the other relates to people/chemistry issues. 

An automatic probe tuning and matching (ATM) accessory allows one to automatically tune the NMR probe to the desired nuclei s resonant frequency and match the resistance of the probe circuit to 50 Q [7]. Traditional NMR instruments are designed so that one must perform these adjustments manually prior to data acquisition on a new sample. The advent of the ATM accessory allows the sampling of many different NMR samples without the need for human intervention. The ATM in conjunction with a sample changer enables NMR experiments to be conducted under complete automation. The sample changers are designed so that once the samples are prepared, they are placed into the instrument s sample holders. Data are then acquired under software control of both the mechanical sample delivery system as well as the electronics of the spectrometer. 

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