Synthesis is a high performance, general-purpose object oriented simulator for modeling large collections of cells.  It can simulate systems consisting of a few complex cells or large-scale networks of millions of interconnected elements with a high degree of efficiency.  The elements may represent anything from atoms and molecules to larger structures such as cells and groups of neurons.

Synthesis provides a complete simulation environment, including: a computation server capable of parallel and distributed computation, a graphical user-interface for interactive visualization and manipulation, a scripting language for automating parameter searches and experiments, an interactive command-line environment for controlling the simulation, data agents for data-gathering and analysis, a library of standard neuron, synapse and connection pattern models. The simulation server is multithreaded for multiprocessor computation and capable of distributing a simulation across multiple networked computers.

The simulator can model any complex system such as slime mold (dictyostelium discoideum) aggregation behavior, heart tissue dynamics, intestine tissue motility, the "Game of Life" cellular automata or even a large-scale model of the mammalian visual thalamocortical system. In fact, anything that can be characterized as a collection of individual elements with internal states that might be modified by interactions can be modeled with this simulator. Synthesis allows the user to interact fully with a simulation, visualizing all variables - at different levels and time scales - while observing all network interactions and controlling all parameters in real-time throughout the course of a simulation.