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PMID: 20478246 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Cellular heterogeneity: do differences make a difference?

Cell ·Vol. 141 ·No. 4 ·2010-05-14 ·Pages 559-63

Altschuler SJ, Wu LF

Abstract

A central challenge of biology is to understand how individual cells process information and respond to perturbations. Much of our knowledge is based on ensemble measurements. However, cell-to-cell differences are always present to some degree in any cell population, and the ensemble behaviors of a population may not represent the behaviors of any individual cell. Here, we discuss examples of when heterogeneity cannot be ignored and describe practical strategies for analyzing and interpreting cellular heterogeneity.

MeSH Terms
Animals Bacteria/cytology Cells/chemistry,metabolism Cytological Techniques Drosophila
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Altschuler Steven J
Department of Pharmacology, Green Center for Systems Biology, Simmons Cancer Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA. steven.altschuler@utsouthwestern.edu
Wu Lani F
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Article Info
Journal
Cell
Abbr.
Cell
ISSN
1097-4172
DOI
10.1016/j.cell.2010.04.033
Email
steven.altschuler@utsouthwestern.edu
Published
2010-05-14
Pages
559-63
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0413066
PMCID
PMC2918286
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM081549 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM081549-03 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM085442 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM085442-02 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2010.04.033 PMC Full Text View journal details
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