GoKawiilPsychAD Consortium maps gene activity across 6 million brain cells in Alzheimer's study
An NIH-funded partnership called the PsychAD Consortium has published the largest single-cell map of the human prefrontal cortex, drawing on sequencing data from more than six million cells from nearly 1,500 people. The findings appear across eight studies, including three papers in Nature, and detail gene activity in neurons, immune cells and vascular cells in this brain region tied to planning and emotional regulation.
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Moving single-cell brain research to population scale could let scientists link genetic variation and ageing directly to disease-relevant changes in specific cell types, according to researcher Panos Roussos. Outside expert Zhichao Miao suggests this scale changes what kinds of scientific questions become answerable, since prior studies were limited to far smaller sample sizes, potentially accelerating research into neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions like Alzheimer's disease.
- The map covers over six million individual cells from nearly 1,500 people in the prefrontal cortex.
- Findings were published across eight studies, including three in Nature, by the PsychAD Consortium.
- The project, begun in 2019, aims to connect genetics, ageing and disease to specific brain cell changes.
Source: nature.com — Heidt, 2026-09-23
Published there as: “Landmark map of human brain’s gene activity holds clues to Alzheimer’s disease and more”
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