Optimal design of dilution experiments under volume constraints

The paper develops methods to construct a one-stage optimal design of dilution experiments under the total available volume constraint typical for bio-medical applications. We consider various design criteria based on the Fisher information both is Bayesian and non-Bayasian settings and show that the optimal design is typically one-atomic meaning that all the dilutions should be of the same size. The main tool is variational analysis of functions of a measure which also allows inclusion of other constraints like the cost associated with the experiment and its outcome.