Cell types and ontologies of the Human Cell Atlas

TL;DR

This paper reviews efforts to develop a unified cell ontology for the Human Cell Atlas, aiming to harmonize diverse cell type annotations and enhance biological understanding.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of current cell ontology initiatives and demonstrates their potential to unify cell type data across research communities.

Findings

Unified ontology consolidates cell type annotations.

Enhances cross-disciplinary understanding of cell types.

Facilitates integration of diverse biological data.

Abstract

Massive single-cell profiling efforts have accelerated our discovery of the cellular composition of the human body, while at the same time raising the need to formalise this new knowledge. Here, we review current cell ontology efforts to harmonise and integrate different sources of annotations of cell types and states. We illustrate with examples how a unified ontology can consolidate and advance our understanding of cell types across scientific communities and biological domains.