GoKawiilResearchers build single-cell atlas linking gene expression to brain disorders
A multi-institution research effort combined brain tissue samples from the Mount Sinai NIH Neurobiobank, the NIMH-IRP Human Brain Collection Core, and the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center to create a harmonized dataset spanning over 1,400 samples. The team standardized clinical measures such as neuritic plaque density (CERAD scores) and cognitive impairment ratings across the different cohorts, alongside demographic and technical variables like age, sex, ancestry and postmortem interval, to enable consistent single-cell transcriptomic analysis of brain disorders.
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Harmonizing clinical and pathological scoring systems across separate brain banks addresses a longstanding obstacle in neuroscience research, where inconsistent diagnostic criteria have made it difficult to compare findings between cohorts. This standardized framework could allow scientists to more reliably identify which brain cell types are vulnerable in conditions like Alzheimer's disease, potentially supporting future work on diagnostics or targeted treatments.
- Data drawn from three major sources: MSSM (1,042 samples), HBCC (300 samples) and RADC (152 samples)
- Clinical scoring systems, including CERAD plaque density and dementia severity, were converted into a unified ordinal scale
- The harmonized dataset also includes demographic and technical variables like age, ancestry, APOE genotype and postmortem interval
Source: nature.com — Lee, 2026-09-23
Published there as: “Single-cell atlas of transcriptomic vulnerability across brain disorders”
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