The next generation of vegetation models will increasingly rely on wood biology to provide insights into the mechanistic understanding of tree responses to environmental changes. Dendrochemistry, wood anatomy, and xylogenesis provide tools to monitor tree performance with unprecedentedly high temporal and spatial resolution. New tree-ring proxies (i.e., stable isotopes, cellular parameters, wood density) allow a real-time visualization of climatic and ecophysiological signals in xylem. This close look can inform vegetation models about past, present, and future patterns of biomass allocation, carbon dynamics, and water use at the tree level. However, standardization of methods to process and analyze these proxies is still insufficient, thus hindering comparison of empirical observations and model development. In this session, we seek to synthesize the latest findings, methods, and challenges in high-resolution multiproxy tree-ring research, stimulating the discussion on effective ways for integrating new insights from wood biology into vegetation models.