 Reverse and forward engineering approaches may challenge the philosophical perspective on how-possibly-models, which are often taken to be stepping-stones for how-actually explanations. In systems and synthetic biology, however, how-possibly models can be explanatory in their own right - in explaining how possibly biological functions can be realized in natural or artificial systems (Green 2015; Koskinen 2017). In engineering, reverse engineering is an activity geared towards the identification of generic features of system design, or design principles, that can be reused in other systems. Similarly, reverse engineering in systems biology aims to identify biological design principles that can increase the understanding of structure-function relations across different systems (Csete &amp; Doyle 2002; Doyle &amp; Stelling 2006; Voit 2003), and potentially also be used in the design of novel systems in synthetic biology (Koskinen 2019).