# Cell signaling pathway fingerprint

Each signaling pathway leaves a consistent fingerprint of gene activity across cell types, so signaling history no longer has to be reconstructed separately for every cell type. IRIS is a neural-network model that reads a cell's overall gene activity and estimates which pathways were switched on at each developmental stage. Tested on single cells from mouse embryos during gastrulation, it predicted when and where pathways activate in heart, gut, muscle and spinal cord lineages, and its prediction for a lung-development cell type was confirmed in mouse embryo experiments.

Each signaling pathway leaves a consistent fingerprint of gene activity across cell types, so signaling history no longer has to be reconstructed separately for every cell type. IRIS is a neural-network model that reads a cell's overall gene activity and estimates which pathways were switched on at each developmental stage. Tested on single cells from mouse embryos during gastrulation, it predicted when and where pathways activate in heart, gut, muscle and spinal cord lineages, and its prediction for a lung-development cell type was confirmed in mouse embryo experiments.