15 FIELD GUIDES · 2 WORKED EXAMPLES
Does function actually improve?
Read cellular measurements critically, from mechanical and electrical responses to replicates, biomarkers and functional endpoints.
Cells & functional measurement
Start with the question closest to your experiment. Each guide separates the mechanism, an illustrative example, and the evidence needed for the next decision.
Cells interpret mechanical context
Distinguish force, deformation, signaling, and function when reading cell mechanotransduction studies, with explicit limits on causal and human conclusions.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDESubstrate stiffness is only one material property
Interpret cultured-cell responses to substrate stiffness while checking geometry, surface chemistry, viscoelasticity, and the endpoint actually measured.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEMembrane voltage is a difference across a boundary
Read membrane potential as an electrical state with a reference, cell context, and measurement method rather than a standalone indicator of cellular health.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDECapacitance connects charge and voltage
Use a simple membrane-capacitor model to relate charge and voltage while keeping membrane area, conductance, and biological interpretation clearly separate.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEElectrolytes screen local electric fields
Understand Debye screening as a model of local electrostatic attenuation and distinguish it from membrane voltage, bulk current, and biological signaling.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDECalcium signals are measured through a reporter
Interpret calcium-imaging traces with baseline, calibration, timing, and reporter limits so optical changes are not mistaken for direct functional outcomes.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEAlive does not mean functionally unchanged
Separate cell survival, growth, metabolic assay signal, and specialized function when evaluating in vitro results and deciding what a study actually shows.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDESenescence requires converging evidence
Interpret senescence-associated markers as context-dependent evidence, with multiple endpoints and clear distinctions between cell arrest, stress, and aging.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEA clock estimate is not a functional verdict
Read epigenetic age estimates as model outputs and compare them with cell identity, assay uncertainty, and function before claiming biological change.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDERepeated measurements are not new biological units
Distinguish technical repeats from independent biological samples so precision, sample size, and uncertainty match the level of the scientific question.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEBatch effects can imitate biological differences
Recognize processing-related variation, prevent complete confounding, and inspect correction assumptions before interpreting clusters or group differences.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEAn organoid models selected features of an organ
Evaluate organoids by the cell types, maturity, structure, and functions they reproduce, while preserving model limitations and human evidence boundaries.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEIdentity and state answer different questions
Separate cell-line authentication from phenotype and functional state, using provenance and appropriate markers to keep in vitro interpretations grounded.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEA trajectory needs comparable repeated observations
Design the interpretation of repeated cell measurements around baseline, timing, attrition, and identity so endpoint differences do not imply trajectories.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEA dose response depends on the endpoint and time
Read concentration-response curves with endpoint, exposure duration, growth, and uncertainty specified, avoiding conversion from cultured cells to humans.
Read the guide ↗PUT THE IDEAS TO WORK
Follow the calculation.
Technical repeats do not create independent cell cultures
Choose the unit of replication before computing uncertainty.
Read the guide ↗WORKED EXAMPLEA batch shift can impersonate a treatment effect
Use within-batch comparisons to distinguish treatment from preparation day.
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