Tabula Sapiens: A Human Cell Atlas of 1.1M Cells from 28 Organs

Over 1.1 million cells from 28 organs of 24 normal human subjects comprise this benchmark human cell atlas. The dataset was created by the Tabula Sapiens Consortium, integrating data from 15 subjects in version 1.0 and adding 9 new donors and 4 new tissues in version 2.0. It controls for genetic background, age, and environment by profiling multiple organs from the same individual.

Use Cases

• Compare shared cell types between different tissues based on gene expression profiles.
• Analyze variation in gene expression within endothelial, epithelial, stromal, and immune compartments across organs.
• Study the effects of age and sex on cell type distribution using data from donors aged 22 to 74.
• Benchmark single-cell analysis pipelines against a high-quality, multi-organ reference dataset.

Strengths

• Over 1.1 million cells provide a large-scale reference.
• Data from 28 organs across 24 donors offers broad tissue coverage.
• Organs from the same individual control for genetic and environmental variables.
• Donor age range (22-74) and balanced sex representation (11 male, 13 female) support lifespan and demographic studies.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Tabula Sapiens Consortium, with tissue procurement via Donor Network West.

Collection Method

Organs from donors were processed within a single day, using a mix of plate-seq and droplet-based sequencing with expert cell annotation.

Time Range

Donor age range from 22 to 74 years old.

Freshness

Version 2.0 data was referenced in a 2024 bioRxiv preprint.

Geography

Likely from the United States, given collaboration with Donor Network West, but not explicitly stated.