“It’s a lot like astronomy and going from ‘which planet is that dot in the sky’ to ‘what are the laws of motion that describe all moving objects?’” says Wallace Marshall, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco and an advisor on the new initiative. “Once we can mathematically describe the cell and it’s behavior at a higher level and add the laws of motion like the Allen Institute is attempting to do, it’s going to change the kind of question cell biologist ask.” 

Unlike traditional methods that focus on the molecules that make up cells or snapshot observations in time, CellScapes will uncover how cells behave as dynamic systems changing over time, responding to their surroundings, and working together to build complex cellular communities. 

By combining cell biology, technology, and synthetic design, the team aims to program what are called “synthoids”—custom-built communities of cells whose behaviors can be manipulated—to test how cells make decisions and organize into tissues.