This revealed how these cells were interacting with each other and showed how trophoblasts invade the uterus’s lining and cause its tissue to change structure, creating the blood supply for the developing foetus. So HCA researchers turned to the techniques of single-cell genomics and used these to analyse more than 70,000 individual cells taken from first trimester pregnancies. But the exact nature of this interchange eluded efforts to decode it. There they carry out an inter-cellular conversation that persuades the mother’s immune system to tolerate the foetus growing inside her. Scientists knew that cells called trophoblasts left the placenta to migrate into the mother’s uterus during pregnancy. “The foetus creates the placenta which surrounds and protects it, and establishes communication between itself and its mother’s uterus in which it is developing,” said cellular geneticist Roser Vento-Tormo, who is also at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Hundreds of new cell types have been revealed this way, with discoveries in the placenta lying in the vanguard of this research. In the first six years of its existence, researchers working for the HCA sequenced and characterised a total of 117.8 million cells, from 174,600 samples, from 9,551 individuals. It means you can target therapies accurately and effectively Aviv Regev, HCA founder It has transformed our ability to study the cellular composition of the human body.” Knowing the right cell is crucial. “Thanks to the development of single-cell genomics, we can sequence each individual cell in a tissue sample. “We call it the resolution revolution,” said the project’s other founder, Sarah Teichmann, who is based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire. To get round that problem, scientists turned to genomics and advanced computational technology to pinpoint individual cells from their genetic signatures. However, some are rare and are easily overlooked, although they can be crucial in ensuring the proper functioning of organs in the body. This process works for the more common cells. In the past, scientists used microscopic observations of tissue to identify different types of cells. We now know of thousands of different cell types in humans.”
“We knew of several hundred types when we launched the atlas but, since then, we have found several times that number, and the total is rising all the time. “There are about 37.2 trillion cells in an average human adult, and these come in many different types,” said Aviv Regev of the US biotechnology giant Genentech, and one of the founders of the HCA project. In the process, scientists have discovered thousands of new types of cells, the fundamental unit of life, in humans. In addition to their placenta triumphs, these groups are also revealing cellular secrets of the immune system as well as the brain, lungs and other organs. Nor is this the only success for the Atlas project, which was launched in 2016 by scientists based in Britain and the United States, a collaboration that has since expanded dramatically and now includes several thousand researchers from institutions around the world. Understanding the mechanics of its functioning should help doctors tackle these conditions. When problems affect a placenta, conditions such as pre-eclampsia or even miscarriages can happen. This achievement could have crucial consequences.
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