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arXiv · 1810.05192

The Human Cell Atlas White Paper

Aviv Regev·Sarah Teichmann·Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen·Michael Stubbington·Kristin Ardlie·Ido Amit·Paola Arlotta·Gary Bader·Christophe Benoist·Moshe Biton·Bernd Bodenmiller·Benoit Bruneau·Peter Campbell·Mary Carmichael·Piero Carninci·Leslie Castelo-Soccio·Menna Clatworthy·Hans Clevers·Christian Conrad·Roland Eils·Jeremy Freeman·Lars Fugger·Berthold Goettgens·Daniel Graham·Anna Greka·Nir Hacohen·Muzlifah Haniffa·Ingo Helbig·Robert Heuckeroth·Sekar Kathiresan·Seung Kim·Allon Klein·Bartha Knoppers·Arnold Kriegstein·Eric Lander·Jane Lee·Ed Lein·Sten Linnarsson·Evan Macosko·Sonya MacParland·Robert Majovski·Partha Majumder·John Marioni·Ian McGilvray·Miriam Merad·Musa Mhlanga·Shalin Naik·Martijn Nawijn·Garry Nolan·Benedict Paten·Dana Pe'er·Anthony Philippakis·Chris Ponting·Steve Quake·Jayaraj Rajagopal·Nikolaus Rajewsky·Wolf Reik·Jennifer Rood·Kourosh Saeb-Parsy·Herbert Schiller·Steve Scott·Alex Shalek·Ehud Shapiro·Jay Shin·Kenneth Skeldon·Michael Stratton·Jenna Streicher·Henk Stunnenberg·Kai Tan·Deanne Taylor·Adrian Thorogood·Ludovic Vallier·Alexander van Oudenaarden·Fiona Watt·Wilko Weicher·Jonathan Weissman·Andrew Wells·Barbara Wold·Ramnik Xavier·Xiaowei Zhuang·Human Cell Atlas Organizing Committee
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Abstract

The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) will be made up of comprehensive reference maps of all human cells - the fundamental units of life - as a basis for understanding fundamental human biological processes and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. It will help scientists understand how genetic variants impact disease risk, define drug toxicities, discover better therapies, and advance regenerative medicine. A resource of such ambition and scale should be built in stages, increasing in size, breadth, and resolution as technologies develop and understanding deepens. We will therefore pursue Phase 1 as a suite of flagship projects in key tissues, systems, and organs. We will bring together experts in biology, medicine, genomics, technology development and computation (including data analysis, software engineering, and visualization). We will also need standardized experimental and computational methods that will allow us to compare diverse cell and tissue types - and samples across human communities - in consistent ways, ensuring that the resulting resource is truly global. This document, the first version of the HCA White Paper, was written by experts in the field with feedback and suggestions from the HCA community, gathered during recent international meetings. The White Paper, released at the close of this yearlong planning process, will be a living document that evolves as the HCA community provides additional feedback, as technological and computational advances are made, and as lessons are learned during the construction of the atlas.

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Aviv Regev, Sarah Teichmann, Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen, Michael Stubbington, Kristin Ardlie, Ido Amit, Paola Arlotta, Gary Bader, Christophe Benoist, Moshe Biton, Bernd Bodenmiller, Benoit Bruneau, Peter Campbell, Mary Carmichael, Piero Carninci, Leslie Castelo-Soccio, Menna Clatworthy, Hans Clevers, Christian Conrad, Roland Eils, Jeremy Freeman, Lars Fugger, Berthold Goettgens, Daniel Graham, Anna Greka, Nir Hacohen, Muzlifah Haniffa, Ingo Helbig, Robert Heuckeroth, Sekar Kathiresan, Seung Kim, Allon Klein, Bartha Knoppers, Arnold Kriegstein, Eric Lander, Jane Lee, Ed Lein, Sten Linnarsson, Evan Macosko, Sonya MacParland, Robert Majovski, Partha Majumder, John Marioni, Ian McGilvray, Miriam Merad, Musa Mhlanga, Shalin Naik, Martijn Nawijn, Garry Nolan, Benedict Paten, Dana Pe'er, Anthony Philippakis, Chris Ponting, Steve Quake, Jayaraj Rajagopal, Nikolaus Rajewsky, Wolf Reik, Jennifer Rood, Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, Herbert Schiller, Steve Scott, Alex Shalek, Ehud Shapiro, Jay Shin, Kenneth Skeldon, Michael Stratton, Jenna Streicher, Henk Stunnenberg, Kai Tan, Deanne Taylor, Adrian Thorogood, Ludovic Vallier, Alexander van Oudenaarden, Fiona Watt, Wilko Weicher, Jonathan Weissman, Andrew Wells, Barbara Wold, Ramnik Xavier, Xiaowei Zhuang, Human Cell Atlas Organizing Committee. 2018-10-11. The Human Cell Atlas White Paper. https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.05192

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