Scientists have used cells’ visual appearance, or morphology, as a way to help understand their state and identity essentially since the invention of the microscope. Now a research team led by Broad Institute Imaging Platform director Anne Carpenter and postdoctoral fellow Mohammad Rohban has shown that a high-throughput, computerized imaging technique for studying morphology, called Cell Painting, can provide insight into the cellular roles of genes or disease-linked gene alleles whose function or impact is unknown.