Cohort triage#

Why this scenario matters#

Many biological questions are not really whole-atlas questions. They are questions like “show me the nearest neighbors, but only inside IPF” or “only inside one tissue context.”

Objective#

This tutorial shows how metadata filters change the retrieved neighborhood and why those filters matter for interpretation.

What it demonstrates#

The cohort-triage scenario makes an important practical point: the meaning of a retrieval result depends on context. A result that looks convincing in the whole atlas may become more interpretable, or more suspicious, once disease or tissue filters are applied.

What to inspect#

Pay attention to:

  • changes in disease composition

  • changes in top-hit identity

  • whether the filtered result better matches the scientific question