Researchers from the global Human Cell Atlas Consortium, including Newcastle University, have sequenced the first 250,000 developmental cells.

They are taking the first steps toward using powerful single-cell genome analysis tools to understand early human development and how this can affect health or lead to disease.

Preliminary projects for the Human Developmental Cell Atlas (HDCA) have sequenced a quarter of a million separate cells so far and the first tranche of data analysis is underway.

Potential for health and disease

The HDCA program will create genomic reference maps of all the cells that are important for human development, which will revolutionize our understanding of health and disease, from miscarriages and children's developmental disorders, through to cancer and aging.

The HDCA is one part of the ambitious Human Cell Atlas (HCA)—a global consortium that aims to transform biological research and medicine by mapping every cell in the human body. Progress on the HDCA and other aspects of the HCA were discussed at the international HCA meeting at the Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge on March 8, 2018.

Many diseases have their origin in early human development, and a detailed understanding of development is key to explaining human health and disease. Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Newcastle University have collected genomic data from over 250,000 cells from a range of donated developing human tissues including liver, skin, kidney, and placenta. These data will show which genes are switched on in each individual cell and help explain vital processes in development.

Professor Muzlifah Haniffa, from Newcastle University, said: “This research is possible due to the Human Developmental Biology Resource, which provides human embryonic and fetal tissues to ethically approved scientific studies such as the HDCA. Funded by Wellcome and the MRC, this well-established tissue bank provides vital materials to enable research into understanding human development to help improve health.”

Advances in biology and medicine

Dr. Sarah Teichmann, co-chair of the HCA Organising Committee and Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “Our understanding of human development will be transformed by the HDCA project and could lead to significant advances in biology and medicine. We expect this fundamental research to deliver a wide range of important insights—from a better understanding of why miscarriages and genetic developmental disorders happen, through to understanding childhoood cancers that have their root in development and the developmental pathways that cancer cells take advantage of in adults.”

Other primary areas of focus for the HDCA include an improved understanding of how blood cells form and how the immune system functions. In addition, further understanding of the processes during human development will shed light on the processes of aging and how tissues repair themselves, which could lead to advances in regenerative medicine.

Outside the UK, other HDCA projects are underway and researchers in Sweden are focusing on the development of the brain, lung, and heart, and on first-trimester development. Scientists from Karolinska Institute, Stockholm University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Science for Life Laboratory are collaborating to discover how these organs develop in order to understand normal human development and shed light on developmental disorders.

The March 2018 international HCA community meeting in Hinxton is the first time that members have come together to discuss details of the HDCA. The meeting will also feature other aspects of the HCA initiative, including updates on progress so far toward atlases of tumor, lung, gut, kidney, and immune system cells.