Research questions and the 'big picture'

[ezingrebe]

The general questions concerning the shoebox simulations of transcription cluster visits:

• how did it all started? What was the driving force to start the research on gene-cluster visits?

• which experimental observations led to the conclusions that a computational model is necessary?

• what was the original purpose of creating a computational model of transcription cluster visits? i.e. which of the phenomena of interest couldn't be answered by experiment, but which were expected to be approached in simulations?

• what was the original hypothesis (if there was any)? Was it confirmed or abolished as the time passed?

• the existence of computational simulations can be justified if they are somehow complementary to the experimental data, or if they convey some message themselves - but not if their only purpose is to reproduce the experiment. In the latter case, we would have a redundant set of data, which is absolutely not necessary. So, what was the complementary or standalone message that those simulations can convey?

• how did the research unfold? I assume that it started with a certain question/hypothesis, which were adjusted according to the newest findings. It would be important to have insight into this "adjustment" process which led to the point where we are now.