WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – More than 3,600 scientists from more than 100 countries have drawn up a first map of around 37.2 trillion cells, taking a big step forward in “understanding the human body”.

According to several articles published in Nature and its related journals, researchers analyzed more than 10,000 individuals for the project, initially launched in 2016.

“Cells are the basic unit of life, and when things go wrong, it’s first and foremost our cells that go wrong,” said Aviv Regev, founding co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas and Executive Vice President for Research and Early Development at Genentech. .

“The challenge we faced is that we didn’t know the cells well enough to understand how variants and mutations in our genes actually affect disease.” Once we have this map, we will be able to better find the causes of diseases.

Researchers hope the high-resolution cell atlas will help doctors identify diseases, understand how genes work and cell development, and unlock new treatment methods.

The final version of the atlas is expected to be released in 2026, detailing the location, identity and function of cells found in organs and body systems.

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