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[**A Computational Model of Liver Iron Metabolism** ]{}\
Simon Mitchell$^{1}$, Pedro Mendes$^{1,2}$$\ast$\
**[1]{} School of Computer Science and Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK\
**[2]{} Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA\
$\ast$ E-mail: pedro.mendes@manchester.ac.uk****

Abstract {#abstract .unnumbered}
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Iron is essential for all known life due to its redox properties, however these same properties can also lead to its toxicity in overload through the production of reactive oxygen species. Robust systemic and cellular control are required to maintain safe levels of iron and the liver seems to be where this regulation is mainly located. Iron misregulation is implicated in many diseases and as our understanding of iron metabolism improves the list of iron-related disorders grows. Recent developments have resulted in greater knowledge of the fate of iron in the body and have led to a detailed map of its metabolism, however a quantitative understanding at the systems level of how its components interact to produce tight regulation remains elusive.

A mechanistic computational model of human liver iron metabolism, which includes the core regulatory components, is presented here. It was constructed based on known mechanisms of regulation and on their kinetic 