  The problem of packing ellipsoids of different sizes and shapes into an
ellipsoidal container so as to minimize a measure of overlap between ellipsoids
is considered. A bilevel optimization formulation is given, together with an
algorithm for the general case and a simpler algorithm for the special case in
which all ellipsoids are in fact spheres. Convergence results are proved and
computational experience is described and illustrated. The motivating
application - chromosome organization in the human cell nucleus - is discussed
briefly, and some illustrative results are presented.
