A Roadmap for the Human Developmental Cell Atlas

Overview

Journal Nature

Specialty Science

Date 2021 Sep 9

PMID 34497388

Citations 76

Authors

Muzlifah Haniffa

Deanne Taylor

Sten Linnarsson

Bruce J Aronow

Gary D Bader

Roger A Barker

Pablo G Camara

J Gray Camp

Alain Chedotal

Andrew Copp

Heather C Etchevers

Paolo Giacobini

Berthold Gottgens

Guoji Guo

Ania Hupalowska

Kylie R James

Emily Kirby

Arnold Kriegstein

Joakim Lundeberg

John C Marioni

Kerstin B Meyer

Kathy K Niakan

Mats Nilsson

Bayanne Olabi

Dana Peer

Aviv Regev

Jennifer Rood

Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen

Rahul Satija

Sarah A Teichmann

Barbara Treutlein

Roser Vento-Tormo

Simone Webb

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The Human Developmental Cell Atlas (HDCA) initiative, which is part of the Human Cell Atlas, aims to create a comprehensive reference map of cells during development. This will be critical to understanding normal organogenesis, the effect of mutations, environmental factors and infectious agents on human development, congenital and childhood disorders, and the cellular basis of ageing, cancer and regenerative medicine. Here we outline the HDCA initiative and the challenges of mapping and modelling human development using state-of-the-art technologies to create a reference atlas across gestation. Similar to the Human Genome Project, the HDCA will integrate the output from a growing community of scientists who are mapping human development into a unified atlas. We describe the early milestones that have been achieved and the use of human stem-cell-derived cultures, organoids and animal models to inform the HDCA, especially for prenatal tissues that are hard to acquire. Finally, we provide a roadmap towards a complete atlas of human development.

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