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The Inquiry: What is the Human Cell Atlas?

What is the Human Cell Atlas?

02/11/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - The Inquiry, What is the Human Cell Atlas?

Why are thousands of scientists collecting biological data from people all over the world?

The Human Cell Atlas is a study of all the different types of cells in our body. It could lead to the democratisation of diagnosis and treatment of disease and illness.

The Human Cell Atlas is a project that has 3000 researchers in over 94 countries working to collect samples of every single cell in the human body.

The idea is that an interactive map of the body will be created. It will be a reference for what every kind of normal human cell should look like. But that will also vary depending on who you are and where you live.

It will give doctors a tool to measure illness and disease and make diagnosis and treatment much quicker.

The database will enable any doctor, anywhere in the world, with the right kind of interface, to access the information.

It could be ground-breaking for the treatment of disease and the democratisation of healthcare. 

Contributors: 
Dr Aviv Regev, one of the co-chairs of the Human Cell Atlas
Dr Sarah Teichmann from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge
Dr Piero Carninci, Geneticist, Transcriptome Technology and RIKEN Centre
Sean Bendall, Associate Professor of pathology and immunology at Stanford University

Presented by Tanya Beckett
Produced by Louise Clarke
Researched by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty 
Edited by Tara McDermott
Technical Producer is Richard Hannaford
Production Co-ordinator is Jordan King

Image: Medical Technology Stock Photo by Kentoh via Getty Images

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