An era of single-cell genomics consortia

Genomics: Collaborative efforts to map the human body-single cell at a time Profiling the human body at the single cell resolution will reveal a map to enable researchers to compare cell types that are found in healthy and disease tissues at a much finer resolution. Large international projects such as FANTOM (Functional ANnoTation Of the Mammalian genome) and GTEx (Genotype-Tissue Expression) have profiled gene expression in hundreds of human cell types. However, the data were obtained from 'bulk' samples. The possibility of sequencing large numbers of single cells at a reasonable cost offers the opportunity to create a much more detailed human cell reference map. Jay Shin, at the RIKEN Institute, Yokohama, Japan, and colleagues review rapidly growing single cell genomics consortia and highlight the advantages of initiating national collaborations to harmonize procedures and to obtain a more accurate representation of regional ethnic diversity. The human body consists of 37 trillion single cells represented by over 50 organs that are stitched together to make us who we are, yet we still have very little understanding about the basic units of our body: what cell types and states make up our organs both compositionally and spatially. Previous efforts to profile a wide range of human cell types have been attempted by the FANTOM and GTEx consortia. Now, with the advancement in genomic technologies, profiling the human body at single-cell resolution is possible and will generate an unprecedented wealth of data that will accelerate basic and clinical research with tangible applications to future medicine. To date, several major organs have been profiled, but the challenges lie in ways to integrate single-cell genomics data in a meaningful way. In recent years, several consortia have begun to introduce harmonization and equity in data collection and analysis. Herein, we introduce existing and nascent single-cell genomics consortia, and present benefits to necessitate single-cell genomic consortia in a regional environment to achieve the universal human cell reference dataset.