Recent advances in sequencing technologies have enabled the identification of intermediate cell states during alveolar epithelial differentiation, which expand during repair following injury and in fibrotic lungs. Although ER stress has been implicated in pulmonary fibrosis, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. The featured study by Auyeung and colleagues looked for links between the unfolded protein response sensor inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α), intermediate epithelial cell sta...
