| | |
Summary: THE CONCURRENCY COLUMN
BY
LUCA ACETO
BRICS, Department of Computer Science
Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg Ø, Denmark
luca@cs.auc.dk, http://www.cs.auc.dk/~luca/BEATCS
One of the most exciting recent applications of process calculi is in the field of
systems biology. Paraphrasing the title of an excellent survey paper by Chris-
tos Papadimitriou, this is an example of the "extroverted" use of concurrency
theory in a fast-developing science, where notions from our research area
may, perhaps surprisingly, be even more appropriate than in software engi-
neering. Possibly, the main "grand challenge" in this field is to define a set of
basic and general primitives for modelling biological systems that are inspired
by actual biological processes, and to use these primitives to develop an ex-
ecutable model based on process calculi of some (very) complex biological
system. This model could ultimately be used to predict the behaviour of living
matter.
This new direction of research in concurrency theory is being pursued by
some of the most capable scientists in our field, and there is already a grow-
ing body of literature reporting on their work, and appearing in specialized
|
