NEWS

1344 21 DECEMBER 2018 • VOL 362 ISSUE 6421 sciencemag.org SCIENCE

F IMAGE: JEFFREY FARRELL AND YIQUN WANG/SCHIER LAB/HARVARD UNIVERSITY

rom at least the time of Hippocrates,

biologists have been transfixed by

the mystery of how a single cell de-

velops into an adult animal with

multiple organs and billions of cells.

The ancient Greek physician hypoth-

esized that moisture from a mother’s

breath helps shape a growing infant,

but now we know it is DNA that ul-

timately orchestrates the processes by which

cells multiply and specialize. Now, just as a

music score indicates when strings, brass,

percussion, and woodwinds chime in to cre-

ate a symphony, a combination of techno-

logies is revealing when genes in individual

cells switch on, cueing the cells to play their

specialized parts. The result is the ability to

track development of organisms and organs

in stunning detail, cell by cell and through

time. Science is recognizing that combination

of technologies, and its potential for spurring

advances in basic research and medicine, as

the 2018 Breakthrough of the Year.

Driving those advances are techniques

for isolating thousands of intact cells from

living organisms, efficiently sequencing ex-

pressed genetic material in each cell, and

With a trio of techniques, scientists are tracking embryo

development in stunning detail By Elizabeth Pennisi

DEVELOPMENT

CELL BY CELL

2018

BREAKTHROUGH

of the YEAR

Published by AAAS

on December 24, 2018^

http://science.sciencemag.org/

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