Context Specification in the Computational Modelling of Human Immune System Response to Viral Infections.

The human immune system is studied at different scales (molecular, cellular, tissue, organism, population) with varied granularity and spatiotemporal dimensions. Innate and adaptive immune responses to viral infections are researched in vitro, in vivo, and in silico using mathematical and computational methods. The construction of computational models is an iterative and interactive process which combines existing knowledge and hypotheses (knowledge-driven approach) with empirical datasets (data-driven approach). The resulting models should ideally provide reusability, composability, and interoperability to support system simulation. The main premises of this paper are (1) computational models can be used not only for representation of existing knowledge, but also as experimental tools to demonstrate, exemplify, create, and serve as test-beds for the analysis of empirical data; and (2) computational models should be evaluated in terms of their usability (defined as a measure of how well a specified group of users can achieve predefined goals effectively, efficiently, and satisfactorily in a specified context of use). The usability measure is specified by the context information: user characteristics, their goals, and additional constraints (e.g., data availability, temporal limitations). This paper focuses on the modelling process performed by multidisciplinary teams and the usability of models for the exploration of immune response to viral infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]