Understanding the cellular society
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.12.020
During my education in general biology in the late 1980s, I became particularly interested in cell biology. I realized that understanding the various processes that occur within cells, the basic structural and functional units of all living organisms, is key to answering fundamental questions about life in general and disease development. I find it highly fascinating to think about every cell as an independent society, with its own rules (expressed genes), highways (cytoskeleton and vesicles), power plant (mitochondria), recycling (autolysosomes), and communication platforms (signaling and exocytosis). I decided to devote my career to deciphering the signals and mechanisms involved in vesicle biogenesis and transport during endocytosis and autophagy and trying to elucidate their link to disease development. It has indeed been an exciting journey, paralleled by the development of advanced technology and the genomic revolution that have led to the discovery of many new concepts in cell biology and new avenues for therapeutic interventions. Recent advancements in single-cell analysis revealed the importance of studying individual cells to fully understand biological processes. Yet, we are still far from knowing the role of every society member (protein) and how they cooperate to maintain cellular homeostasis in response to changes in the internal or external environment. It will also be important to understand how cells interact and work together to maintain overall cell health and organismal well-being. While different in scale, organization, and complexity, comparing cells to societies may help us appreciate the fundamental principles of cooperation that underlie the functioning of all living systems.
Here you can read what others in the field have to say about the field of cell biology.