Integration of multi-scale biosimulation models via light-weight semantics.

Currently, biosimulation researchers use a variety of computational environments and languages to model biological processes. Ideally, researchers should be able to semiautomatically merge models to more effectively build larger, multi-scale models. However, current modeling methods do not capture the underlying semantics of these models sufficiently to support this type of model construction. In this paper, we both propose a general approach to solve this problem, and we provide a specific example that demonstrates the benefits of our methodology. In particular, we describe three biosimulation models: (1) a cardio-vascular fluid dynamics model, (2) a model of heart rate regulation via baroreceptor control, and (3) a sub-cellular-level model of the arteriolar smooth muscle. Within a light-weight ontological framework, we leverage reference ontologies to match concepts across models. The light-weight ontology then helps us combine our three models into a merged model that can answer questions beyond the scope of any single model.