2011
Volume 11, Number 3, pp. 97–106
Emulating biology: the virtual living organism
Gergely Bándi1 and Jeremy J. Ramsden1, 2
1 Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, UK
2 Collegium Basilea (Institute of Advanced Study), 4002 Basel, Switzerland
Rapid prototyping tools exist in many fields of science and engineering, but not as much in biology, especially not general tools that can handle the diversity and complexity of the many spacial and temporal scales in nature. In this paper we introduce and describe an abstract tool that emulates biology and can create rapid prototypes of many diverse biological objects. It is anticipated that it can be used to provide support for theories, create “virtual” experiments that would be impossible to undertake or physically measure, and emulate in vivo experimentation in a highly cost-effective fashion.