The immune system as a reactive system: modeling T cell activation with statecharts

The construction of reliable reactive systems is considered to be one of the most challenging goals in the fields of software and system engineering. The definition of a reactive system suits biological systems at different levels, ranging from gene networks, developing embryos and the immune system. We report here the application of a tool developed for constructing computerized systems to the modeling and analysis of a biological system, the immune system. We use the language of statecharts within the framework of object-oriented modeling. The results described here indicate that this modeling strategy can contribute to the transition of biology from the phase of analysis to the phase of synthesis.