HCA Archive Resource available for users
We are excited to announce that users can now access the Human Cell Atlas Archive Discovery Portal.
The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is creating comprehensive reference maps of all human cells, as a basis for understanding human health and for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. The HCA Archive was established as a digital memory bank, to ensure the breadth, depth and unique achievements of the HCA consortium are recorded, preserved and made available as a resource.
Since the first meeting in 2016, the HCA has expanded into a global and grassroots collaborative consortium of nearly 4000 members in more than 100 countries, who are creating Atlases of 18 individual tissues, organs and systems with the goal of creating an Atlas of all human cells. To capture history and progress, the HCA Archive has been collecting digital files, images and interviews about how the global HCA community is building the Human Cell Atlas.
Users are now able to access HCA Archive materials via the Archive Discovery Portal, which will allow a range of people to explore the archive and help bring the stories and achievements to a wider audience.
The HCA values open, transparent and equitable science that benefits all communities worldwide, and this ethos is mirrored with the HCA Archive. The Archive is intended to be a source of information for a broad range of users who explore, research, or write about science, genomics and global health. It may also serve as inspiration for those working on major scientific projects. Additionally, parts of the digital archive will be exhibited to deepen public understanding of HCA and the importance of global equity in Science.
One highlight of the HCA Archive is a collection of long-form interviews with HCA members, reflecting on their work with the Human Cell Atlas, what it means to be working in science today and how genomics research can impact human health.
The HCA Archive is not complete; it will continue to grow as the Atlas effort evolves. HCA members with stories or information to share should email archive@humancellatlas.org. Learn more about the HCA Archive, and how people can access it.
The Archive project has been made possible in part by a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, DAF, an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.