Projects Espace

ESPACE - Expression and Spatial analysis Pancreas Atlas Consortium Europe

Human Cell Atlas of the Pancreas

Duration of the project: January 2020 - December 2021

The human pancreas is a physiologically unique organ as it is both an exocrine and endocrine gland. Several human diseases associated with the pancreas, such as pancreatic andenocarcinoma or diabetes mellitus, demonstrate its physiological importance. Unfortunately, its high autolytic activity makes the pancreas a challenging tissue to study. In the context of the EU H2020 project, ESPACE, we teamed up with seven excellent researchers in Europe to create the first Human Cell Atlas of the Pancreas. The ESPACE partners will provide networking activities along four major lines: 1) procurement and harmonization 2) transcriptomics and epigenomics 3) spatial proteomics 4) data management. We will integrate molecular profiles from more than 1 million single cells together with tissue spatial proteomics allowing to address fundamental questions of cell state and phenotype in healthy adults, type 2 diabetes and during human foetal development.

Further information can be found on the ESPACE Webpage

Due to high autolytic activities, it is challenging to investigate the pancreas at the transcriptome level. In this paper, the authors overcame these limitations by using single-nuclei from frozen tissues, and generated a comprehensive Human Cell Atlas of the Pancreas including more than 120.000 cells, leading to the discovery of new cell states in health and disease. Moreover, in situ sequencing approaches revealed how cell types are spatially organised within pancreatic tissues. Taken together, this work provides new insights into how the pancreas works in homeostasis and it will open new avenues to better understand the aetiology of pancreatic diseases.

Please see also the BIH press release