'Tabula sapiens' multi-organ cell atlas already yielding surprises for biologists
May 2022, phys.org
Tabula Sapiens Consortium: exists
160 experts led by scientists at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub unveiled a massive digital atlas that maps gene expression in nearly 500,000 cells from 24 human tissues and organs, including the lungs, skin, heart, and blood. The Tabula Sapiens cell atlas is the largest to include multiple tissues from the same human donors, and the first to include histological images of the tissues, and to incorporate details of the microbial communities living alongside the human cells that make up the various compartments of the gut.
"The quality and breadth of these data are unparalleled"
via Chan Zuckerberg Biohub: The Tabula Sapiens: a multiple organ single cell transcriptomic atlas of humans, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl4896
Post Script: Do consider that despite this great advance in our understanding of the human body, that this massive trove of biodata will in fact be be used for purposes other than originally intended, will be merge with complementary data, and it will be used to cause harm to one or more members of the group who provided the information or about whom it was collected.
This is because it's run by a Zuckerberg Chan group, which means it's linked to the largest trove of human behavior data in existence (a certain social network).
And also because it's the law:
The 4 Laws of Data Dynamics:
1. The law of data coalescence - Data must seek and merge with complementary data.
2. Data always will be used for purposes other than originally intended.
3. Data collected about individuals will be used to cause harm to one or more members of the group who provided the information or about whom it was collected, be it minor (short-term aggravation of a "junk" call during dinner) or major (the sorrow of getting a free sample of formula just after your miscarriage).
4. Confidential information is confidential only until someone decides it's not. (p14)
-The Naked Consumer: How Our Lives Become Public Commodities, Erik Larson, Henry Holt Publishers, 1992
Notes:
The data was secured by the close partnership with Donor Network West, a nonprofit organ procurement organization in Northern California, which uses non-transplanted tissues and organs for preclinical research, and sure makes me think about the Body Market:
Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains, Annie Cheney, Broadway Books, 2006
Body broker [wiki] aka "non-transplant tissue bank" is a firm or an individual that buys and sells cadavers or human body parts. Whereas the market for organ transplantation is heavily regulated in the United States, the use of cadaver parts for research, training, and other uses is not. Modern body brokers usually receive cadavers via body donation.
The Body Trade: Cashing in on the donated dead
Feb 2018, Reuters Investigation
Human Cell Atlas Consortium - comprehensive and openly available cross-tissue cell atlases
C. Domínguez Conde et al, Cross-tissue immune cell analysis reveals tissue-specific features in humans, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl5197.
Chenqu Suo et al, Mapping the developing human immune system across organs, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abo0510.
Gökcen Eraslan et al, Single-nucleus cross-tissue molecular reference maps towards understanding disease gene function, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl4290.
The Tabula Sapiens: a multiple organ single cell transcriptomic atlas of humans, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl4896.
Tabula Sapiens Data Portal
Cell by Gene Tool
Image credit: Just kidding, the image above is bushmeat, not people. Bushmeat by Corinne Stanley on Flickr circa 2008
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