Bagpipers
24 May 2023
16:30
"Office grunts and hipsters: What we can learn from a single cell"
Every human is composed of trillions of individual cells. Nowadays, scientists can measure the molecular contents of many thousands of single cells in a single experiment. However, it is often assumed that cells of the same cell type, or cells that are in the same cell state, are identical for all intents and purposes. We challenge that notion and show that these cells differ from one another in meaningful ways - just like humans are unique, even if they are closely related or work the same job! So let's treat each cell as an individual, and see what surprising insights we might gather!
Marcel Tarbier
Karolinska Institutet
Postdoc
I study the subtle molecular differences between individual cells of the same cell type or state. In my doctoral research at Stockholm University I showed that these differences are informative of gene function and regulation. My postdoc work at Karolinska Institute now utilises these insights, and exploits subtle molecular differences to compute complex cell features, such as how closely cell are related to one another (sister, cousin, etc.) or how their local environment looks like.