The commitment of the human cell atlas to humanity
Ido Amit, Kristin Ardlie, Fabiana Arzuaga, Gordon A. Awandare, Gary D. Bader, Alexander Bernier, Piero Carninci, Stacey Donnelly, Roland Eils, Alistair R. R. Forrest, Henry T. Greely, Roderic Guigó, Nir Hacohen, Muzlifah Haniffa, Emily Kirby, Bartha Maria Knoppers, Arnold R. Kriegstein, Ed S. Lein, Sten Linnarsson, Partha P. Majumder, Miriam Mérad, Kerstin B. Meyer, Musa M. Mhlanga, Garry P. Nolan, Ntobeko Ntusi, Dana Pe’er, Shyam Prabhakar, Maili Raven-Adams, Aviv Regev, Orit Rozenblatt‐Rosen, Senjuti Saha, Andrea Saltzman, Alex K. Shalek, Jay W. Shin, Hendrik G. Stunnenberg, Sarah A. Teichmann, Timothy L. Tickle, Alexandra–Chloé Villani, Christine A. Wells, B Wold, Huanming Yang, Xiaowei Zhuang
Abstract
The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is a global partnership “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.” ( https://www.humancellatlas.org/ ) The atlas shall characterize cells from diverse individuals across the globe to better understand human biology. HCA proactively considers the priorities of, and benefits accrued to, contributing communities. Here, we lay out principles and action items that have been adopted to affirm HCA’s commitment to equity so that the atlas is beneficial to all of humanity. The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) aims to characterize cells from diverse individuals across the globe to better understand human biology. Here, the authors lay out principles and action items that have been adopted to affirm HCA’s commitment to equity so that the atlas is beneficial to all of humanity.