Recent advances in biomedical simulations: a manifesto for model engineering
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Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Synthesis of Keratin-based Nanofiber for Biomedical Engineering
Published on: February 7, 2016
Joseph L Hellerstein1, Stanley Gu2, Kiri Choi2
1eScience Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Abstract:
Biomedical simulations are widely used to understand disease, engineer cells, and model cellular processes. In this article, we explore how to improve the quality of biomedical simulations by developing simulation models using tools and practices employed in software engineering. We refer to this direction as model engineering. Not all techniques used by software engineers are directly applicable to model engineering, and so some adaptations are required. That said, we believe that simulation models can benefit from software engineering practices for requirements, design, and construction as well as from software engineering tools for version control, error checking, and testing. Here we survey current efforts to improve simulation quality and discuss promising research directions for model engineering.
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