Cartographers of the human body: the Human Cell Atlas

The Human Cell Atlas has even helped change public health policy. Just over three years after it launched at its inaugural meeting at the Wellcome Trust, London, in 2016, the world was struck down by the appearance of a new virus, SARS-CoV-2, causing the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Within a couple of weeks of the beginning of the pandemic, the whole Human Cell Atlas community pulled together and everybody shared data that was published and unpublished, and mapped where the SARS-CoV-2 virus was docking," says Teichmann. "It showed that the virus could enter through cells in the eyes, nose and mouth."

This information was reported to the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) committee, helping inform how it responded to the virus, such as implementing policies around mask-wearing.

Although it has become something of a cliché for scientists to describe their project as a 'Google Map for X', in this case it seems wholly suitable.

"You can use the Human Cell Atlas as a sort of Google Maps of the molecules and cells in the human body, because you can find out how a virus could enter the body and how it can move around inside from tissue to tissue. It was an exciting learning curve during the pandemic, and a really proud moment for the Human Cell Atlas community. It illustrates the reason why we need a map of the healthy human body."

The willingness to share data both within the HCA community and more widely is fundamental to the entire project. Any research group can join the community, says Teichmann. "It's completely open - any researcher from any country is welcome to join." The only requirement is that they sign up to the project's ethical principles and commitment to open data sharing.

The international consortium is crucial to delivering on the promise of the HCA. As Teichmann points out, "It's a huge project and requires a lot of people to work together". But there is another reason by she encourages scientists from every corner of the globe to participate.

"[The HCA] is an underpinning resource for science and humanity, and so we felt it was appropriate to have it be a global project that's open for everyone to join and that's inclusive of the whole international scientific community. That also means the samples that we study will come from patients and donors from all over the world, so it will be more representative of humankind."

The studies published today are not, of course, the first to emerge from the project - and nor will they be the last. There is still a lot of work to be done, for example to map some missing tissues across head, thoracic, abdominal and peripheral structures of the body, and then to assemble all the data sets together into a spatially-resolved complete atlas.

"I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved by working together," says Teichmann. "It's been eight years and over that time, a number of young researchers have risen up and developed their careers. The community and the culture that we've all built together has been very special and different. It's been supportive and collaborative and inclusive.

"I'm super proud of how much we've achieved. It's been mind-blowing, such an exciting journey."

^{Sarah Teichmann}

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