  Finding reduced models of spatially-distributed chemical reaction networks
requires an estimation of which effective dynamics are relevant. We propose a
machine learning approach to this coarse graining problem, where a maximum
entropy approximation is constructed that evolves slowly in time. The dynamical
model governing the approximation is expressed as a functional, allowing a
general treatment of spatial interactions. In contrast to typical machine
learning approaches which estimate the interaction parameters of a graphical
model, we derive Boltzmann-machine like learning algorithms to estimate
directly the functionals dictating the time evolution of these parameters. By
incorporating analytic solutions from simple reaction motifs, an efficient
simulation method is demonstrated for systems ranging from toy problems to
basic biologically relevant networks. The broadly applicable nature of our
approach to learning spatial dynamics suggests promising applications to
multiscale methods for spatial networks, as well as to further problems in
machine learning.
