HuBMAP Inaugural Data Release Puts Detailed Anatomical Data about Seven Human Organs at the Service of Scientists, Public

HuBMAP (the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program) has released its inaugural data for use by the scientific community and the general public. Included in this release are detailed, 3D anatomical data and genetic sequences of healthy tissues from seven organ types, at the level of individual cells as well as many bulk tissue datasets. HuBMAP’s ultimate goal is to provide the framework required for scientists to create a 3D atlas of the human body.

Real-world applications in which potential HuBMAP data users have expressed interest include:

• A surgeon would like to use HuBMAP to visualize tissues to explain disease processes and surgical interventions to patients.
• A software developer would like to use HuBMAP data to build software tools for doctors to create novel solutions to help people with specific medical conditions.
• A computational biologist would like to use HuBMAP to understand how differences between individual cells in the body lead to normal development--or development and progression of disease.
• A drug developer would like to use HuBMAP to identify where in the body a particular gene is highly expressed, to find new treatment uses for a drug candidate in development.
• A patient diagnosed with BRCA1-linked breast cancer would like to use HuBMAP to understand how age, sex and diagnosis interact.
• A parent would like to use HuBMAP to show their kids “cool biology work so that I can amaze, entertain and educate” them.