The second question that comes up is one shared by the community now performing single-cell genomics assays: How do you define a cell type? This question has been thoughtfully explored by Hongkui Zeng, focusing on the complexity of cells in the mammalian brain (Zeng 2022). She not only gives an overview of the many techniques that can be used to address this issue, but she also draws a distinction between cell types and cell states—in other words, how can a canonical cell type exist in several states? Once again, we are brought back to the concept of the epigenetic landscape and a delta of creodes that split off and recombine around the canonical path down the hillside. This reinforces the idea that the original Waddingtonian idea of epigenetics represents a concept that is more relevant today than ever, as we struggle to deal with the complexity of information about cell types and states.
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