HuBMAP and Akoya: Mapping the Human Body One Cell at a Time

Original Air Date: May 2022

Human cell atlas initiatives, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Human Biomolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), aim to build on the legacy of the Human Genome Project by developing an open, global platform to create a reference map for all human cells in the human body. Over the past four years, the HuBMAP consortium has built a framework to construct the tools, resources, and atlases needed to determine how relationships between cells can affect human health. One of the spatial technologies they rely on is multiplex imaging at single-cell resolution from Akoya.

In this webinar series, you’ll hear from the HuBMAP researchers, bioinformaticians, and computer scientists behind this extraordinary effort, see how Akoya spatial phenotyping data is driving discovery, and learn how you can contribute.

HuBMAP: Building a Spatial Map of the Human Body — One Cell at a Time
In this roundtable moderated by Dr. Niro Ramachandran of Akoya, HuBMAP investigators will discuss the goals of the HuBMAP consortium, what they’ve accomplished thus far, share their vision for HuBMAP and similar cell atlas consortia, and provide an overview of the working groups developing new protocols. They’ll also discuss how HuBMAP researchers can work with biotechnology companies like Akoya to advance our understanding of human health and disease.

Organ Cell Atlas Initiatives: Inside HuBMAP Tissue Mapping Centers
In this webinar, you’ll hear from two HuBMAP investigators who are working on organ cell atlas initiatives. Learn how HuBMAP tissue mapping centers collect samples, design spatial phenotyping experiments, upload highly multiplexed imaging data to the HuBMAP repository, and analyze their data to gain a deeper understanding of the function of single cells and cellular neighborhoods within different organs — enabling further insights into human health and disease.

A Framework for Cell Atlas Initiatives: The Information Science Behind HuBMAP
In this roundtable moderated by Dr. Grady Carlson of Akoya, HuBMAP bioinformaticians will discuss computational and logistical challenges and resources required to drive HuBMAP efforts to collect and curate information from numerous resource groups. They will discuss standards and processes they rely on, and provide an overview of the computational approaches HuBMAP uses to integrate, visualize and analyze data from many different assays.