Human Cell Atlas 2022-23 Executive Office Support

Funding is requested to support the 2022-23 operations of the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) Executive Office.

HCA is an international scientific project whose mission is to create comprehensive reference maps of all human cells — the fundamental units of life — as a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease.

The requested funds would support Phase 1 of the HCA initiative, which includes developing standardized experimental and computational methods to allow HCA scientists to compare diverse cell and tissue types and samples across human communities in consistent ways, ensuring that the resulting resource is comprehensive and global.

The scientific and geographic scope and complexity of this project necessitate professional staff support to coordinate the activities of multiple governance and working groups and to create, collect, organize, and distribute a wide range of resources to the HCA community, as well as to support the scientific and legal processes that are required to build the Atlas.

Support for these and other secretariat functions will be critical to ensure the continued smooth operation of the HCA consortium and the coherent assembly of the first draft of the Human Cell Atlas.