“Discrete event models in biology: Problems, solutions, and food for thought”

Discrete event models have become an important tool in theoretical biology. There is, at the same time, a growing awareness of the methodological issues that arise in connection with discrete event systems. Synchronization between discrete event and continuous model components and the handling of simultaneous events are technical issues that many simulation programs must address, and how they are handled can have a substantial impact on the results of a calculation. More fundamental, but not unrelated, is the question of comparing notionally equivalent models. This talk presents particular problems that have been encountered when modeling cell migration with a mix of discrete event and continuous processes. Specific examples are taken from our work on smooth muscle cell migration and similar models that are described in the extent literature.