Biological resilience in health and disease

All living organisms – from single-celled prokaryotes through to invertebrates and humans – are frequently exposed to numerous challenges in their lifetime, which could damage their molecular and cellular contents and threaten their survival. Nevertheless, these diverse organisms are on the whole remarkably resilient to potential threats. Recent years have seen rapid advances in our mechanistic understanding of this emerging phenomenon of ‘biological resilience’, which enables cells, tissues and whole organisms to ‘bounce back’ from challenges or stress. In this ‘At a Glance’ article, we discuss current knowledge on the diverse molecular mechanisms driving biological resilience across scales, with particular focus on its dynamic and adaptive nature. We highlight emerging evidence that loss of biological resilience could underly numerous pathologies, including age-related frailty and degenerative disease. Finally, we present the multi-disciplinary experimental approaches that are helping to unravel the causal mechanisms of resilience and how this emerging knowledge could be harnessed therapeutically in the clinic.