The Hidden Cell Discovery Research Platform (360G-Wellcome-226791_Z_22_Z)

Biological research is in an era of prolific data generation. This provides unprecedented opportunities for deep insights into cells, from infectious single-celled bacteria to the multitude of human cell types. However, technical limitations and investigative bias have left numerous “blind spots”. Functions of numerous proteins remain unknown, cellular sub-structures are unseen at nano-scale and rare cellular events go unnoticed. These knowledge gaps – the Hidden Cell – arise from the absence of appropriate technology and/or because well-studied topics attract further research, and are major barriers to progress, The proposed Hidden Cell Discovery Research Platform (HCDRP) will overcome these barriers. Scientists and Technologists from diverse disciplines will work together to develop innovative approaches that render currently intractable and/or neglected areas accessible. Three integrated HCDRP pipelines will: \- Discover key components hidden amongst uncharacterised proteomes \- Bridge biological structure between atomic and cellular scales \- Capture pivotal biological events that are rare, short- lived or stochastic HCDRP is designed to address current challenges of biomedicine and revolutionise approaches to solving biological questions in the scientific community. It will deliver insights that stimulate mechanistic research in overlooked and unexpected areas, including uncharacterised genetic diseases, the emergence of microbial drug resistance and new generation tool development.