A Spatial Cell Type Reference Atlas of the Adult Human Heart

The goal of this project is to build a spatially resolved single-cell reference map of the adult human heart.

In addition, this group will work to understand differences in cell type composition or distribution that may underlie cardiovascular disease. Race and ethnicity contribute to differences in the incidence, treatment, and outcomes of cardiovascular disease. In addition to recognized socioeconomic factors, genetic determinants are known to contribute to cardiovascular disease risk factors and cardiovascular pathologies — but how do these risk factors manifest in the identity or composition of various cell types in the heart? The project will incorporate samples from Black and Latinx donors and include collaborators in Canada and Brazil for obtaining these heart tissues.

This Network was awarded the CZI Seed Networks Incentive to Support Diversity for the Human Cell Atlas.

This group performed single-cell RNA-sequencing, single-nuclei RNA-sequencing, ATAC-sequencing, spatial transcriptomic, and full-length RNA isoform sequencing to generate a spatial cell type atlas of the adult human heart. They improved scPower, a computational tool for power analysis and experimental design of multi-sample single-cell transcriptomics, and utilized scArches to integrate healthy and diseased samples. They published a comprehensive human heart cell atlas to serve as a resource for the research community.