The expert panel included: Dr Davide Danovi, Senior Lecturer at King’s College London and Director of Cellular Phenotyping at bit.bio; Dr Deepak Srivastava, Reader in Molecular Neuroscience and Group Leader, MRC Centre for Developmental Disorders, King’s College London & Director, Wohl Cellular Imaging Centre; and Dr Ivo Lieberam, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, King’s College London. Their insights, summarised in the issue, cover three main challenges associated with cell models: suitability; scalability; and consistency and reproducibility.