Modeling framework for membrane computing in biological systems: Evaluation with a case study

•We provide a modeling framework for membrane computing in biological systems.•Framework includes requirements, modeling, simulation and model checking.•The ligand–receptor networks of TGF-β protein is used to evaluate the framework.•Framework performed better in capturing the structure and behavior of biological systems.•Framework requires further enhancement for application to specific processes.

Membrane computing can represent the structures and behaviors of biological systems while considering their characteristics. This paper proposes a modeling framework for membrane computing in biological systems to provide guidelines when using and experimenting with membrane computing. The framework processes include the biological requirements and property specifications, membrane computing model, membrane computing simulation strategy, and model checking approach. A biological system that comprised the ligand–receptor networks of TGF-β protein was used as a case study to evaluate the framework. The evaluation of the framework demonstrated that membrane computing performed better than conventional ordinary differential equations when capturing the structure and behavior of biological systems.