The Advances that Will Shape Life Sciences in the 2020s

Systems biologist Steven Wiley says advancements in two areas—single-cell biology and CRISPR—are poised to transform research.

emma yasinski
| 3 min read
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The 2010s brought major advancements in every aspect of the life sciences and ushered in an era of collaboration and multidisciplinary approaches. The Scientist spoke with Steven Wiley, a systems biologist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and member of TS’s editorial board, about what he thinks the recent past indicates about the upcoming decade of research.

Wiley: The next year will be a continuation of the scientific breakthroughs that were present the last couple of years, and what’s happened the last couple of years will fundamentally transform the next decade. There are two areas that I think are really posed for an explosive growth, and one is single-cell biology. . . . The second one people know is transformative . . . is CRISPR technologies.

Wiley: Single-cell sequencing, single-cell proteomics, single-cell imaging—these are all part of this new area of single-cell biology which is really going to ...

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Meet the Author

  • emma yasinski

    Emma Yasinski

    Emma is a Florida-based freelance journalist and regular contributor for The Scientist.
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