Grant Task 1b: Qualitative and quantitative comparison of models to data

[jonc125]

For each of the case studies listed above we will encode experimental protocols and upload data, to enable a comparison of simulation predictions with experimental data. Given the relative paucity of openly available data sets, and the varied responses of different experimental setups, obtaining close quantitative matches between simulated and experimental data is rare. A useful first assessment of model quality can be to look at qualitative matching of trends, e.g. whether a decrease in extracellular potassium leads to a decrease in membrane potential. A quantitative comparison, in mathematical terms, is equivalent to implementing an objective function or likelihood evaluation associated with a given parameter set and its fit to experimental data. This quantification could be a simple ‘square error’ metric, or differences in derived measures such as time constants associated with current decays following voltage steps. We will take approaches appropriate to the data in each case.

[MichaelClerx]

Unassigning for now, just so my list of assignments is more immediately useful :-)