Location matters: defining the mucosal landscape of the bronchial wall in health and asthma

Using single-cell spatial transcriptomics on human lung biopsies, the labs of Régis Joulia and Clare Lloyd identified distinct "cellular ecosystems"—specialised microenvironments packed with inflammatory potential. This important breakthrough provides new insights into tissue-level changes in asthma, laying the groundwork for more targeted and effective treatments. Published in Nature Immunology, the study provides a never-before-seen view of the organisation of cells within the lung airway wall, revealing how cells are arranged, how they interact, and how these distinct ‘cellular ecosystems’ are disrupted in asthma.