Cell fate decision-making in complex signalling environments

Every cell in your body is constantly bombarded with chemical signals, and a new imaging technique now lets scientists watch, in real time, how a single cell weighs those competing messages before deciding whether to divide or specialise. This matters because cells routinely receive dozens of conflicting instructions at once—from neighbouring cells, hormones, and the physical environment—yet they reliably pick a path. Until now, researchers could not track both the incoming signals and the cell’s response simultaneously across an entire population. The team has solved that by combining live-cell imaging of gene activity with measurements of signalling and behaviour over the hours it takes a cell to commit to a fate. They will also build mathematical models that capture how a cell’s history of exposure shapes its final decision. This is fundamental science. It will define the core rules of how cells integrate complex signalling histories—knowledge that could eventually help explain why development sometimes goes wrong, or why cancer cells ignore signals that should stop them from proliferating. Past work on cell signalling has led to targeted cancer therapies, but this project is focused on the basic logic of decision-making itself, not on any immediate application.