Scientists launch project to map every cell in human body
A project to describe every cell in the human body would have been unrealistic just a few years ago. But international scientists meeting in London Friday said they believe this vast undertaking is now within reach.
Once completed, the Human Cell Atlas could revolutionize how diseases are diagnosed and treated, according to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, one of the meeting organizers.
As ambitious in scope as the Human Genome Project -- which cataloged the first full human DNA sequence -- the Human Cell Atlas aims to chart the types and properties of all human cells to build a reference map of the human body, according to researchers involved in the project.
The cell is the key to understanding the biology of health and disease, but we are currently limited in our understanding of how cells differ across each organ, or even how many cell types there are in the body, said Sarah Teichmann, head of cellular genetics at the Sanger Institute.
This initiative is the beginning of a new era of cellular understanding, she said. We will discover new cell types, find how cells change across time, during development and disease, and gain a better understanding of biology, she said in an institute news release.
The result will be a valuable, free resource for biomedical science researchers -- whether theyre studying human development or the progression of diseases such as asthma, Alzheimers and cancer, she and her colleagues said.
The London meeting will help establish the first phase of the initiative.
HealthDay
