The idea of community isn’t just for people. It’s for cells, too. Like people, cells thrive in neighborhoods that are characterized by a diversity of uses and users. In the neighborhoods we call tissues, this kind of diversity is partly due to cellular heterogeneity, and partly due to the distribution of and interactions among different kinds of cells. Understanding this kind of diversity is exactly what spatial biology is all about. And because spatial biology can reveal the hidden order that supports healthy cells and tissues, it can also suggest remedies should cells and tissues come under attack or fall into disorder.

Spatial biology inspires both scientific and commercial activity, as this issue of GEN reports, taking the idea of community full circle, that is, back to people. This issue of GEN also reviews the State of Biotech 2023 and describes developments in disciplines such as cell therapy and downstream bioprocessing.