Modeling Biology Spanning Different Scales: An Open Challenge

Abstract

It is coming nowadays more clear that in order to obtain a unified description of the different mechanisms governing the behavior and causality relations among the various parts of a living system, the development of comprehensive computational and mathematical models at different space and time scales is required. This is one of the most formidable challenges of modern biology characterized by the availability of huge amount of high throughput measurements. In this paper we draw attention to the importance of multiscale modeling in the framework of studies of biological systems in general and of the immune system in particular.

Towards a unified approach in the modeling of fibrosis: A review with research perspectives

“…The multiscale problem consist of integrating the mathematical and computational description of processes operating at variable spatial, temporal and organizational levels [54]. The modeling of many biological system requires a multiscale approach: immune system [56], neural systems [57], tumour growth [58], epidermal wound healing [59,60], tissue engineering [61].…”

Multiscale modeling of fibrosis – What's next? Reply to Comments on “Towards a unified approach in the modeling of fibrosis: A review with research perspective” by Martine Ben Amar and Carlo Bianca

“…Most of the multiscale models presented in the pertinent literature consist in different equations for each scale but the linking among them is missing, see, among others, [18][19][20][21][22][23]. The real multiscale approach is reached if the models derived at different scales can be linked each other.…”

Computational Studies of the Intestinal Host-Microbiota Interactome

“…Foremost is determining appropriate levels of representation for both the host and the microbiota, i.e., what computational and mathematical constructs to use to represent the biological entities and processes. The host immune system manifests at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, whole organism and population scales of organization, and it is still an open question about how to define the interactions between these different scales as they can contain important inflection points of behavior [119][120][121]. The set of methods used in existing multiscale models would suggest that no single method would be sufficient for all purposes, as there are advantages and disadvantages with each.…”