Technion researchers have developed a new approach that simplifies a complex biological model

The researchers rely on a language they developed over a decade ago, which describes complex systems graphically and textually, at different levels of detail


The Technion researchers built a model of the life cycle of mRNA, which is the "messenger" that transfers the genetic code from the nucleus to the ribosome, for the purpose of building proteins. This innovative approach allows for a detailed but graded presentation of this complex biological model, and it relies on the language OPM - Object-Process Methodology, which was developed more than a decade ago by Professor Dov Dori from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, and which is in the advanced stages of becoming an ISO standard.

Now Professor Dori has teamed up with Professor Mordechai Khoder, a molecular biologist from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, to build the innovative model in an abstract way. "It's like a big puzzle that over the years has accumulated a lot of knowledge about each of its parts," explains Professor Dori. "The system we built allows for a comprehensive view of the entire system."

The model, built by doctoral student Yehudit Somech, who is currently finishing her research, relies on dozens of studies conducted on each of the pieces of the "puzzle" and creates a clear overall picture. It was published in the scientific journal PloS ONE. During the construction of the model, professors Dori and Hodar and Yehudit Somech discovered significant knowledge gaps in this field, which they presented and classified into different types. The identification of knowledge gaps is an important component of this method, as it indicates directions for research focus and enables verification or refutation of new hypotheses. This study is a pioneering study in a new area developed by the researchers - conceptual modeling of biological systems.