MCMC Methods For Discrete Sojourn Time

Ion channels are protein molecules that are intimately involved in the transmission of information through the nervous system. Their behaviour is modelled as a Markov chain, but one which cannot be observed directly. The deeciencies of the observation process make the study of ion channel data diicult. Several methods have been proposed for making inference about the parameters of the underlying Markov chain, but all are computationally expensive, even on simple models. We propose a new method based on Markov chain Monte Carlo technology in a Bayesian framework. Although this is also computationally intensive, it is possible that it may be extended to more complex models.