On May 15, 2025, the Allen Institute announced the launch of CellScapes, a bold new research initiative aimed at revolutionizing how scientists understand and predict the behavior of human cells as they work together to build tissues and organs.

The goal: to uncover the rules and principles of how cells cooperate to make decisions in the body and provide scientists with the tools to predict—and even design—how cells behave together in health and disease.

CellScapes introduces a groundbreaking approach that will combine cutting-edge imaging and powerful computer models to track how cells change, communicate, and organize.

“Cells don’t act alone. They constantly shift and collaborate in ways we’re just beginning to deeply understand,” said Ru Gunawardane, Ph.D., Executive Director and Vice President of the Allen Institute for Cell Science. “With CellScapes, we’re moving beyond the static snapshots of biology and toward a living, dynamic picture of how cells create life.” 

CellScapes will describe these changes in mathematical terms to empower researchers to test, model, and predict cell behavior with unprecedented clarity. This critical insight will offer new ways to measure and represent cells that will redefine how we study them.