Reference descriptions of cellular electrophysiology models

Abstract

In recent years there has been much development of the fundamental ideas underlying mathematical model curation in regard to models of biology. While much has been achieved in the realms of systems biology and bioinformatics, little progress has been made in relation to cellular electrophysiology modeling. The primary reason for slow progress in this field is the lack of a consistent and machine-readable reference description for a given model. CellML has been widely used to describe mathematical models of cellular electrophysiology in an unambiguous, machine-readable format. Through the use of well-annotated CellML models we propose a standard by which reference descriptions of cellular electrophysiology models can be similarly defined in an unambiguous, software independent, and machine-readable format. Adoption of this standard will provide a consistent technology by which cellular electrophysiology models can be curated. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.