Modular Verification of Interactive Systems with an Application to Biology

Abstract

We propose sync-programs, an automata-based formalism for the description of biological systems, and a modular verification technique for such a formalism that allows properties expressed in the universal fragment of CTL to be verified on suitably chosen fragments of models, rather than on whole models. As an application we show the modelling of the lac operon regulation process and the modular verification of some properties. Verification of properties is performed by using the NuSMV model checker and we show that by applying our modular verification technique we can verify properties in shorter times than those necessary to verify the same properties in the whole model.