Probabilistic Model Checking of Complex Biological Pathways
J. Heath1, M. Kwiatkowska2, G. Norman2, D. Parker2 and O. Tymchyshyn2
| (1) |
School of Biosciences, |
| (2) |
School of Computer Science University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK |
Abstract
Probabilistic model checking is a formal verification technique that has been successfully applied to the analysis of systems
from a broad range of domains, including security and communication protocols, distributed algorithms and power management.
In this paper we illustrate its applicability to a complex biological system: the FGF (Fibroblast Growth Factor) signalling
pathway. We give a detailed description of how this case study can be modelled in the probabilistic model checker PRISM, discussing
some of the issues that arise in doing so, and show how we can thus examine a rich selection of quantitative properties of
this model. We present experimental results for the case study under several different scenarios and provide a detailed analysis,
illustrating how this approach can be used to yield a better understanding of the dynamics of the pathway.
Supported in part by EPSRC grants GR/S72023/01, GR/S11107 and GR/S46727 and Microsoft Research Cambridge contract MRL 2005-44.