HRA

HRA maps cells in the healthy human body into a high-resolution three-dimensional reference atlas to harmonize tissue and spatial single-cell assay data collected from donors varying in sex, age, ethnicity, and body mass index.

Key Features:

• 3D cell-resolved atlas: Provides a high-resolution three-dimensional map of cells across the healthy human body derived from diverse donors.
• Multi-assay harmonization: Harmonizes tissue data across 25 organs and over 15 bulk and spatial single-cell assay types.
• Registration module: Standardizes terminologies and data structures for specimens, biological structures, and spatial data and links these descriptions to existing ontologies.
• Common Coordinate Framework: Maps tissue blocks and sections into a shared spatial reference for cross-sample registration and annotation.
• Annotation and publication: Harmonized and published data include 5,909 tissue blocks collected by HuBMAP, SPARC, HCA, KPMP, and GTEx (as of April 22, 2022).
• Section derivation: Includes 5,856 tissue sections derived from 506 HuBMAP blocks.
• Exploration capabilities: Enables assessment of data quality and spatial exploration of tissue data to inform and guide future data acquisition.

Scientific Applications:

• Spatial anatomy and cell mapping: Examines complex biological structures and their spatial relationships within a standardized anatomical framework.
• Cross-consortium integration: Supports integrative analyses by harmonizing datasets from HuBMAP, SPARC, HCA, KPMP, and GTEx.
• Reference for healthy human biology: Serves as a reference for studies of cell types and tissue organization across sex, age, ethnicity, and body mass index.
• Quality assessment and study design: Assesses data quality and guides future tissue sampling and data acquisition strategies.

Methodology:

Registration standardizes terminologies and data structures for specimens, biological structures, and spatial data, links descriptions to existing ontologies, and maps tissue blocks and sections into a Common Coordinate Framework for annotation and publication.