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By looking at the cellular circuitry of immune cells one at a time, ӳý researchers reveal underlying  genetic heterogeneity that can sometimes lead to autoimmune disease. <i>Image courtesy of   Ania Hupalowska.</i>

ӳý core member Aviv Regev thinks about the immune system as if it were an orchestra: “Some instruments need to play strong, others need to pull back or push forward. It all has to form a harmony and this harmony changes with time,” she said. “Everything has to know its role and it has to be orchestrated — except you don’t have a conductor.”

Small-molecule-sensitivity profiling of cancer cell lines (CCLs) has emerged as an approach to illuminate the mechanism of action of compounds and to launch the early stage of the discovery of new precision therapies. In a study in , a team of scientists from ӳý's  — led by researchers Stuart Schreiber, Paul Clemons, and Alykhan Shamji — presents the largest CCL sensitivity dataset to date, and an exciting new analysis method, termed “annotated cluster multi-dimensional enrichment” (ACME), integrating information from multiple CCLs and small molecules.

The gene CARD9 codes for a central component of the innate anti-fungal immune response and has recently been associated with risk for several immune-related disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). New research from the lab of ӳý institute member looks to a rare CARD9 variant, which is strongly protective against IBD, to uncover the basic biology of the gene as well as its regulation. , published this week in Immunity, also offers a potential mechanism for the protective allele.