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 definitely suits biological systems at different levels, ranging from gene networks, developing embryos and the immune system of the adult. 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.
Symposium on Visual Languages and Formal Methods, IEEE