DCT Case Demonstration
Developing a process to stabilize enzyme activity
How Effinity Tech enables our clients to achieve their objectives for process development within 10 experiments!

I. Establish Client Requirements
I.1 Define Target Variables and Objectives
Objective: To discover the optimal agent to stabilize enzyme activity
Target variable: Relative enzyme activity (Y)
Current level: 100%
Goal: 100% (prevent this enzyme from decaying)
Once the objective is defined, we need some basic information for a system from our clients. This is where DCT and our clients’ expertise get “married”.

Unlike traditional methodologies DCT:
Optimizes substances and conditions at a time
Optimizes system configurations and parameter values simultaneously
Operates on the principle of “open systems” by considering all potentially related parameters to deliver a much wider field of initial parameters which will much more likely reveal the optimum configuration and at a much earlier stage
Does not require selection of a subset of parameters in advance
I.2 Identify System Parameters
Add all potential parameters that are related to the objectives. They could come from:
In this case, 16 parameters were provided by the client.
I. Establish Client Requirements

I. 2&3 - Identify and Define Value Ranges for Parameters
Table 1. Parameter Information
Parameter name is not needed by DCT. This secures our client’s IP.
We show it for demonstration purposes only.
Type is a broad categorization of the parameter
Provide present typical value if data is available. This is not required. In this case, the client did not have any experience with developing this process. DCT can still work without this data.
Provide lower and upper bounds for the parameters. Higher bound should ideally be less than 100x lower bound. Range should be “feasible and practical”. For example, don’t use values that will “kill” the cells or microbes.
ideally less than 100x
Higher bound
Lower bound

II. Design 3-5 Diagnostic Experiments
III. Perform Experiments
At this stage, Effinity Tech designs 3-5 system diagnostic experiments

Client performs experiments and provides results

II. Design 3-5 Diagnostic Experiments
III. Perform Experiments
Table 2. The design and results of the system diagnostic experiments
All parameters are included.
Experiment results provided by client
DCT’s comprehensive approach guarantees that all
parameters are tested in initial diagnostic experiments.

IV. Analyze Results
V. Evaluate Parameter Importance
Sensitivity analysis will be conducted by Effinity Tech to evaluate the contribution of each parameter to the objective.

Parameters that are important and necessary will remain in the system and their values optimized in further designs.
These parameters: X1 X2 X3 X6 X7 X12 X13 make a positive contribution.
We will keep them!
These parameters: X4 X5 X8 X9 X10 X11 X14 X15 X16 make zero or negative contribution! They’re outta here!

V. Design 1-3 System Control Experiments
III. Perform Experiments
Table 3. The design and results of system control experiments (round #1)
All parameters are included
Experiment results provided by client
Both results exceeded the objective!

IV. Analyze Results
V. Evaluate Parameter Importance
Further sensitivity analysis was conducted by Effinity Tech to evaluate the remaining parameters showing there is potential to get even better results.

Two more parameters were excluded. Now, only 5 parameters were still included in the system and their values further optimized.
These parameters: X1 X2 X3 X6 X13 make a positive contribution. We will keep them!
These parameters: X7 X12 don’t help! They’re outta here!

V. Design 1-3 System Control Experiments
III. Perform Experiments
Table 4. The design and results of system control experiments (round #2)
All parameters are included
Hooray! We’ve exceeded the objective by 52.1%!

VII. Project Completion
Perform further adjustments and complete the project
To ensure the best results, 2 more experiments were designed but there was no further improvement.
This concluded the project!

DCT Really Works!!!
These parametars: X7 X12 don’t help! They’re outta here!

VII. Project Completion
Conclusion:
Required only 10 experiments with DCT
Increased enzyme activity by 52.1%
These parametars: X7 X12 don’t help! They’re outta here!
Quote from Client:
DCT greatly improved the level of the target variable, which has important application value. For a complex multi-variable and multi-level system, DCT can significantly reduce the number of experiments and increase efficiency. Moreover, it is very easy to implement.