Human Cell Atlas at 10: A Decade of Discovery and the Road to HCA 2.0
Marking its 10 th anniversary, the Human Cell Atlas reflects on a decade of breakthroughs while charting an ambitious course for the next decade. GEN's Julianna LeMieux, PhD, spoke with Holger Heyn, PhD, ICREA professor at the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG) and co-founder of Omniscope about the meeting and what the next 10 years may bring. The post Human Cell Atlas at 10: A Decade of…
The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) celebrated its 10-year anniversary in June at the annual meeting in Boston. Co-founded by Aviv Regev and Sarah Teichmann in 2016, the HCA aims to generate single-cell resolved atlases of all main tissue and organ systems. Over the past decade, the group has published 450 papers, cited 100,000 times, and received members from nearly 4,000 institutions across 100 countries.
The meeting featured two days: the first focused on the past decade's accomplishments, while the second discussed the future roadmap for HCA 2.0. Co-founder of Omniscope and co-chair of the Standards and Technologies working group, Holger Heyn, highlighted the advancements in technology that have made single-cell analysis more accessible, such as cryopreserved cells and formalin fixation.
The future of HCA 2.0 will focus on scaling spatial atlases, increasing global representation, including disease focus samples, and generating foundation models that can be used for diagnostics and drug development.
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