Model Bricks: small well-annoted modules used to build annotated, reusable models
Key features of ModelBricks include reliance on a commonly used standard language (SBML),
rule-based specification describing species as a collection of uniquely identifiable molecules,
association with model specific numerical parameters, and more common annotations.
Complex molecular networks often can be constructed from simpler modules that we call bricks.
The adaptive behaviour of living cells is shown to be represented as a combination of
functional motifs that reproduce different patterns of cell response to a signal –
from simple linear and sigmoidal responses to more complex behaviours like toggle switches
and oscillators. The topology of these modules can be captured in graphical form and
represented as a wiring diagram in SBGN. However, to understand why these models work
the way they do, one must develop a precise mathematical description of molecular circuitry
and describe it in a different type of multiplex brick, that we call an executable brick
or a model brick.