Scientists launched a global initiative Friday to map out and describe every cell in the human body in a vast atlas that could transform researchers' understanding of human development and disease.
The atlas, which is likely to take more than a decade to complete, aims to chart the types and properties of all human cells across all tissues and organs and build a reference map of the healthy human body, the scientists said.
Cells are fundamental to understanding the biology of all health and disease, but scientists cannot yet say how many we have, how many different types there are, or how they differ from one organ to another, one project leader said.