Cyc and the Big C: Reading that Produces and Uses Hypotheses about Complex Molecular Biology Mechanisms

Systems biology, the study of the intricate, ramified, com-plex and interacting mechanisms underlying life, often proves too complex for unaided human understanding, even by groups of people working together. This difficulty is ex-acerbated by the high volume of publications in molecular biology. The Big C (‘C’ for Cyc) is a system designed to (semi-)automatically acquire, integrate, and use complex mechanism models, specifically related to cancer biology, via automated reading and a hyper-detailed refinement pro-cess resting on Cyc’s logical representations and powerful inference mechanisms. We aim to assist cancer research and treatment by achieving elements of biologist-level reason-ing, but with the scale and attention to detail that only com-puter implementations can provide.