Atlas of cells transforms understanding of human body

Originally published by James Gallagher at bbc.com, on November 20, 2024

An ambitious plan to map all 37 trillion cells in the human body is transforming understanding of how our bodies work, scientists report.



The received wisdom said we were built from around 200 types of cell – such as heart muscle or nerve cells.

Instead the Human Cell Atlas project has revealed there are thousands of cell types, with some appearing to be culprits in diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and cystic fibrosis.

In a flurry of announcements, the formation of the human skeleton and the early immune system have also been mapped out in detail.

The novel insight is akin to moving from the maps of the 15th Century era of Joan of Arc and Richard III to what the phone in your pocket can load.

The old maps of the body had the equivalent of major roads and significant geography but also areas cartographers labelled unknown or “terra incognita”.

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