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Source URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23829l8kzro

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Atlas of cells transforms understanding of human body

Atlas of cells transforms understanding of human body

An ambitiousambitny plan to map all 37 trillion cellszmapować wszystkie 37 bilionów komórek in the human body is transformingprzekształcanie understanding of how our bodies work, scientists report.

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The received wisdommądrośćpowszechne przekonanie said we were built from around 200 types of cell – such as heart musclemięsień sercowy or nerve cells.

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Instead the Human Cell Atlas projectprojekt Atlasu Komórek Ludzkich has revealed there are thousands of cell types, with some appearing to be culpritswinowajcy in diseases such as inflammatoryzapalny bowel disease and cystic fibrosismukowiscydoza.

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In a flurrynatłok of announcementsw natłoku ogłoszeń, the formation of the human skeletonformowanie ludzkiego szkieletu and the early immune system have also been mapped outzmapowane in detail.

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The latest discoveries include a map of the gut all the way from the mouthcałą drogę od ust, down the oesphagusprzełyk, into the stomach and intestines and out the anus.

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Researchers looked atprzyjrzeli się the types of cellsrodzaje komórek, where they were located and how they chattedrozmawiały to the other cells around them.

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Out of the 1.6 million cells analysed was a new form, called a gut metaplasticmetaplastyczny cell. It seems to play a role in exacerbatingpogarszanie inflammationzapalenie in the seven million people that live with inflammatory bowel diseaseschoroby zapalne jelit such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

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“We were able to uncover a pathogenicchorobotwórczy cell type that may play a roleodgrywać rolę in some chronic conditionsprzewlekłe choroby and could be a target for [drug] interventioninterwencja in the future,” said Dr Rasa Elmentaite, who did the research at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

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There are more than 3,600 scientists across 100 countries collaboratingwspółpracujący on the Human Cell AtlasAtlas Komórek Ludzkich, which is one of the most ambitiousambitny projects in biology and has been described as the heir to the Human Genome ProjectProjekt Genomu Ludzkiegospadkobierca Projektu Genomu Ludzkiego to sequencesekwencjonować the human genetic code.

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