The completion of the Human Genome Project catalyzed the development of ‘omics’ technologies, enabling the detailed exploration of biological systems at an unprecedented molecular scale. Microfluidics has transformed the omics toolbox by facilitating large-scale, high-throughput and highly accurate measurements of DNA and RNA, driving the transition from bulk to single-cell analyses. This transition has ushered in a new era, moving beyond a gene- and protein-centric perspective toward a holistic understanding of cellular phenotypes. This emerging ‘single-cell phenomics era’ integrates diverse omics datasets with spatial, morphological and temporal phenotypes to provide a comprehensive perspective on cellular function. This Review highlights how microfluidics addressed key challenges in the transition to single-cell omics and explores how lessons learned from these efforts will propel the single-cell phenomics revolution. Furthermore, we discuss emerging opportunities in which integrative single-cell phenomics could serve as a foundation for transformative discoveries in biology.

人类基因组计划的完成促进了“组学”技术的发展，使人们能够在前所未有的分子尺度上对生物系统进行详细探索。微流体技术通过促进 DNA 和 RNA 的大规模、高通量和高精度测量，推动了从大量细胞分析到单细胞分析的过渡，从而改变了组学工具箱。这种转变开创了一个新时代，超越了以基因和蛋白质为中心的观点，转向了对细胞表型的整体理解。这个新兴的“单细胞表型组学时代”将不同的组学数据集与空间、形态学和时间表型相结合，以提供细胞功能的全面视角。本综述重点介绍了微流体如何解决向单细胞组学过渡的关键挑战，并探讨了从这些努力中吸取的经验教训将如何推动单细胞表型组学革命。此外，我们讨论了整合单细胞表型组学可以作为生物学变革性发现基础的新兴机会。