The Cell Discovery Network Accelerator Grant program at Boston Children’s Hospital seeks to build a community of researchers using single-cell approaches to understand principles governing pediatric tissue biology in health and disease. The widespread adoption and availability of single-cell technologies present many opportunities but have also created challenges in how to extend these datasets beyond the curation of descriptive cellular atlases. For example, going from inferred cell clusters and interactions to tissue-scale mechanisms would greatly benefit from faithful model systems, spatial registration, or perturbation experiments. Our first round of Accelerator grants will aim to promote innovative projects bridging the gap between single-cell genomics and the clinical setting. Some areas of emphasis include, but are not limited to, projects aiming to 1) directly link human pediatric single-cell RNA-sequencing data with ex vivo culture-based models or in vivo animal models of disease, 2) incorporate spatially-registered information, or 3) profile diseases where there are no publicly available datasets reported. For us, building a community means having fellow scientists with whom to learn and discuss all things single-cell! The CDN will provide structured learning opportunities to awardees as well as to the wider research community at BCH. By designing workshops and courses on current overarching problems in the single-cell space we aim to create the space to nurture and grow this community. For any questions, please contact us or email celldiscoverynetwork@childrens.harvard.edu.