Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jul;37(7):625-630.
doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.03.007. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Towards a Human Cell Atlas: Taking Notes from the Past

Rik G H Lindeboom  1 , Aviv Regev  2 , Sarah A Teichmann  3
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Towards a Human Cell Atlas: Taking Notes from the Past

Rik G H Lindeboom et al. Trends Genet. 2021 Jul.
Free article

Abstract

Comprehensively characterizing the cellular composition and organization of tissues has been a long-term scientific challenge that has limited our ability to study fundamental and clinical aspects of human physiology. The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is a global collaborative effort to create a reference map of all human cells as a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. Many aspects of the HCA are analogous to the Human Genome Project (HGP), whose completion presents a major milestone in modern biology. To commemorate the HGP's 20-year anniversary of completion, we discuss the launch of the HCA in light of the HGP, and highlight recent progress by the HCA consortium.

Keywords: Human Cell Atlas; Human Genome Project; single cell.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests In the last 3 years, S.A.T. has consulted for Genentech and Roche, and is a member of SABs of Biogen, GlaxoSmithKline, and Foresite Labs. A.R. is a cofounder and equity holder of Celsius Therapeutics, an equity holder of Immunitas and was an SAB member of Neogene Therapeutics, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Asimov, and Syros Pharmaceuticals until July 31, 2020. Since August 1, 2020, A.R. is an employee of Genentech, a member of the Roche group. A.R. is an inventor on multiple patents to the Broad Institute in the area of single cell genomics. R.G.H.L. has no interests to declare.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources