# Fabian Theis argues Virtual Cell work needs harder problems than perturbation prediction

> Original title: Controlling Biology - Fabian Theis, Helmholtz Munich

- Source: Latent Space
- Published: 2026-11-06T15:10:53.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/ypxm1lxu73pg8vlq9nxeonqfy
- Original: https://latent.space/p/controlling-biology-fabian-theis-helmholtz-munich/

## Summary

Fabian Theis believes perturbation prediction on existing datasets is not a hard enough problem to justify complex algorithms. He says the field should instead target predicting how molecules, cells, niches, tissues, organs and organisms affect one another, which the $1.8B Biohub data collection effort is designed to support.