Mathematical Model Validated Experimentally

Researchers have shown experimentally that a mathematical model for sphingomyelin metabolism in yeast accurately predicts the biochemical events taking place within the cell.

Many cell biologists feel that mathematical models are now necessary tools for organizing the rapidly increasing amounts of large-scale data on biochemical pathways and for advanced evaluation of their structure and regulation. However, it has proven difficult to demonstrate experimentally the validity of mathematical models.

In the current study, published in the January 27, 2005, issue of Nature, investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, USA; www.musc.edu) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA; www.gatech.edu) demonstrated the experimental validation of a mathematical model for sphingomyelin metabolism in yeast. As the metabolic pathway in yeast is similar to that in humans, the authors feel that their results represent a good starting point for modeling this pathway in humans.

"This model now allows us to test ‘what-if' scenarios and make predictions on experiments that have not been performed or that are very difficult or impossible to perform,” explained contributing author Dr. Eberhard Voit, professor of biomedical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Qualitatively, all of our predictions were correct. If we predicted an increase in something, the experiments showed a similar increase. Quantitatively, our predictions need to be refined further. If we had a human model of the current quality, we would still not be able, for instance, to predict with sufficient reliability the drug dosage needed for treating a specific disease process.”





Related Links:
Medical University of South Carolina
Georgia Institute of Technology