The Human Cell Atlas will catalogue a cell based on several criteria, specifically the cell type, its state, its location in the body, the transitions it undergoes, and its lineage.[6] It will gather data from existing research, and integrate it with data collected in future research projects.[2] Among the data it will collect is the fluxome, genome, metabolome, proteome, and transcriptome.[2]
Its scope is to categorize the 37 trillion cells of the human body to determine which genes each cell expresses by sampling cells from all parts of the body.[7]
All aspects of the project will be made "available to the public for free", including software and results.[8]
By April 2018, the project included more than 480 researchers conducting 185 projects.[9]
In October 2017, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced funding for 38 projects related to the Human Cell Atlas.[10] Among them was a grant of undisclosed value to the Zuckerman Institute of the Columbia University Medical CenteratColumbia University.[8] The grant, titled "A strategy for mapping the human spinal cord with single cell resolution", will fund research to identify and catalogue gene activity in all spinal cord cells.[8] The Translational Genomics Research Institute received a grant to develop a standard for the "processing and storage of solid tissues for single-cell RNA sequencing", compared to the typical practice of relying on the average of sequencing multiple cells.[10] Project home pages are available at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's website.[11]
In April 2018, the first data set from the project was released, representing 530,000 immune system cells collected from bone marrow and cord blood.[9]
Regev, Aviv. "The Human Cell Atlas"(PDF). Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Archived from the original(PDF) on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
Regev A, Teichmann SA, Lander ES, Amit I, Benoist C, Birney E, et al. (Human Cell Atlas Meeting Participants) (8 May 2017). "The Human Cell Atlas". bioRxiv10.1101/121202.
