Related Experiment Videos
The Human Cell Atlas: making 'cell space' for disease.
1MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK chris.ponting@igmm.ed.ac.uk.
Disease Models & Mechanisms
|January 16, 2019
Summary
The Human Cell Atlas project aims to map all human cell types, enabling disease biomarker discovery by analyzing molecular changes across individual cells. This approach uses multidimensional cell space to understand cell-type-specific disease progression.
Area of Science:
- Cellular biology
- Genomics
- Biomarker discovery
Background:
- Single molecular changes (DNA, RNA, proteins) serve as disease biomarkers.
- High-throughput single-cell phenotyping allows analysis of molecular changes across many cells.
- Disease states can be reflected by shifts in cell populations within a multidimensional molecular space.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the potential of the Human Cell Atlas project.
- To improve the description and understanding of cell-type specificity in disease.
- To establish a robust formulation of multidimensional 'cell space' for disease biomarker analysis.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing high-throughput molecular phenotyping of single cells.
- Defining a multidimensional 'cell space' based on cellular molecular content.
- Leveraging the Human Cell Atlas project's goals to map human cell types.
Main Results:
- The Human Cell Atlas project aims to populate a comprehensive 'cell space' with all human cell types.
- This project facilitates the consideration of molecular changes across thousands of cells as disease biomarkers.
- The framework allows for understanding disease states through shifts in cell numbers and locations.
Conclusions:
- The Human Cell Atlas project holds significant potential for advancing disease biomarker discovery.
- Understanding cell-type specificity in disease is a key outcome of this initiative.
- A multidimensional 'cell space' is crucial for realizing the full potential of single-cell analysis in disease research.