The average body contains about 37 trillion cells – and we are in the midst of a revolutionary quest to understand what they all do. Unravelling this requires the expertise of scientists from all different backgrounds – computer scientists, biologists, clinicians and mathematicians – as well as new technology and some pretty sophisticated algorithms.
Where once a primitive microscope, essentially little more than a magnifying glass, would reveal a new cell directly and viscerally – in the same way that Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered sperm in 1677 – today it is analysis on a computer screen which brings us such revelations. But it’s just as wonderful.
