Human Body Cell structure diagram: Scientists are trying to map human body at individual cells to locate disease, find reason

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

For Aviv Regev, the head of research at Genentech, a leading US biotech company, this story serves as an illustration of what a good map should not be.

Together with a diverse group of international collaborators, Regev aims to undertake the ambitious Human Cell Atlas project, an extensive effort to map the human body at the level of individual cells. The primary objective of this project is to construct a detailed portrait of a healthy human being, encompassing distinctions between men and women, various population groups, and changes throughout the lifespan. This comprehensive understanding holds the potential to shed light on the diverse origins and consequences of diseases. Beyond its specific objectives, the Human Cell Atlas project represents a bridge between the microscale of molecules and genes studied by biologists and the macroscale of tissues and organs that captivate physiologists and clinicians. At its core, the project revolves around the fundamental unit of life: the cell.

Dr. Regev emphasized the significance of cells during an interview at the project's annual meeting in Toronto, stating, «Life can be more than a cell, but it is not less than a cell.» The human body consists of an estimated 37 trillion cells, a colossal number that would have overwhelmed the project's resources in the absence of recent technical advancements. One of the most critical advancements is single-cell RNA sequencing, a method that allows researchers to eavesdrop on a cell's genome instructions to its protein-making machinery.

While all of an individual's cells possess the same DNA, DNA sequencing alone does not reveal the differences between cells.