Cytomics and cellular informatics – coping with asymmetry and heterogeneity in biological systems

Cytomics has a practical role to play in drug discovery within the immediate limitations of cell-based analyses. A more elusive goal is the clarification of the complexity of a dynamic cellular response to a drug through mathematical modelling. The common aim for drug discovery and cytomics is to bridge the molecular–cellular systems gap. The strategic challenges faced include: suitable preclinical biological models, cytometric platforms that resolve cellular or behavioural identity, analysis and visualization tools that act as integrating principles, consensus on standards and, finally, the implementation of informatics to serve the demands of decision making. Advances in all these key areas will help to address the need to identify and evaluate the origins of asymmetry and heterogeneity in cellular systems and thus reveal new opportunities for therapeutic targeting.