Question: Why do you remove certain chemicals or change how fast a reaction takes place, why the chemicals and reactions, why not anything else?

Gemma Sharp answered on 14 Jun 2011:

That’s a good question 🙂

The computer model I’m building is based entirely on proteins (which are a type of chemical) and the speed of the reactions between them. So if I remove certain proteins or change the speed of a reaction I can see if the model behaves differently.

If the model behaves completely differently, then that tells me that the protein I removed, or the reaction I changed the speed of is particularly important.

The proteins and reactions that are important in the computer model are probably the same proteins and reactions that are important in labour in real life – or at least, that’s the idea!

The only way I can play about with the model is to remove certain proteins or change the speed of certain reactions, because that’s what the model is based on. No other parts exist for me to change 🙂