Using Easel for modeling and simulating the interactions of cells in order to better understand the basics of biological processes and to predict their likely behaviors

Abstract

Modeling, simulation, visualization, and animation play a significant role in the study of bioinformatics. Research in this area is generally multidisciplinary in nature and collaboratively conducted by researchers with expertise in biology, bioinformatics, computer science, artificial intelligence, mathematics, and statistics. Easel programming language is used for modeling, simulation, visualization, and animation of interactions of cells in order to better understand the basics of biological processes and to predict their likely behaviors. This paper presents a computer science modeling, simulation, visualization, and animation approach to such research. The paper provides a brief overview of the basic ideas in the "Message Passing" Easel program to demonstrate the transmission of signals between cells based on their physical proximity.