Automated mapping of phenotype space with single-cell data.

Accurate identification of cell subsets in complex populations is key to discovering novelty in multidimensional single-cell experiments. We present X-shift (http://web.stanford.edu/~samusik/vortex/), an algorithm that processes data sets using fast k-nearest-neighbor estimation of cell event density and arranges populations by marker-based classification. X-shift enables automated cell-subset clustering and access to biological insights that 'prior knowledge' might prevent the researcher from discovering.