Disclosed are methods, systems and apparatus for constructing assemblies of biological knowledge constituting a biological knowledge base, and for subsetting and transforming life sciences-related data and information into biological models to facilitate computation and electronic reasoning on biological information. A subset of data is extracted from a global knowledge base or repository to reconstruct a more specialized sub-knowledge base or assembly designed specifically for the purpose at hand. Assemblies generated by the invention permit selection and rational organization of seemingly diverse data into a model of any selected biological system, as defined by any desired biological criteria. These assemblies can be mined easily and can be logically reasoned with great productivity and efficiency.