The Caltech-UW Tissue Mapping Center (TMC) brings together the developers of leading technologies for multiplex spatial transcriptomics (Long Cai, seqFISH) and ultra-scalable methods for single cell profiling of chromatin accessibility and transcriptomes (Shendure & Trapnell, sci-ATAC-seq and sci-RNA-seq).

Through an organ-specific project (OSP), this group collects high-quality, normal human samples with explicit consent for open access genome data sharing (GDS) and distribution to consortium members. They characterize and quantify the molecular heterogeneity of the human circulatory system in relation to multiple facets of its anatomical distribution, including organ-specific heterogeneity, intra-organ zonality, down to cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Through an iterative approach involving profiling of spatially intact tissues by seqFISH and disaggregated cells by sci-ATAC-seq and sci-RNA-seq, they will obtain a spatially resolved, comprehensive molecular portrait of both chromatin accessibility and gene expression across the human circulatory system. Through incidental collection, they anticipate generating expression and chromatin accessibility data for diverse cell types in all organs that are surveyed, which will critically inform and increase the value of the datasets collected by other TMCs and OSPs.