TABLE 1.

Characterizing features of traditional large scale gray box modeling and the conclusive minimal modeling approach demonstrated herein

Feature	Traditional modeling	Our approach
Number of models	One	Many
Mechanistically based model structures	Yes	Yes
Included mechanisms	All known and relevant	As few as possible, only those necessary
Main insights from comparing with data	Model can explain the data	Something crucial is missing
Parameter values	A single set of values, from literature and fitting	All acceptable parameters
Prediction identification	Simulation	Shared properties among all acceptable parameters
Type of predictions	Non-unique suggestions	Uniquely identified
Finality of conclusions	No, will be revised in the future	Yes, both rejections and core predictions are final