BackgroundThe success of molecular systems biology hinges on the ability to use computational models to design predictive experiments, and ultimately unravel underlying biological mechanisms. A problem commonly encountered in the computational modelling of biological networks is that alternative, structurally different models of similar complexity fit a set of experimental data equally well. In this case, more than one molecular mechanism can explain available data. In order to rule out the incorrect mechanisms, one needs to invalidate incorrect models. At this point, new experiments maximizing the difference between the measured values of alternative models should be proposed and conducted. Such experiments should be optimally designed to produce data that are most likely to invalidate incorrect model structures.
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