The Multiscale Human
Is it possible to create a multiscale map of the human body?
The human body has 37 trillion cells. In this incredibly complex and dynamic system, changes at the molecular level alter cell behaviour, tissue architecture and the function of organs; in the other direction, changes in the environment can feed into the body and cause molecular changes. The Multiscale Human Team seeks to understand the system at all these scales to create an unprecedented map of the human body and help drive medical advances.
The fundamental challenge the researchers will address in The Multiscale Human is how to integrate data from various spatial and temporal scales across the body while accounting for diversity in the 8 billion strong global population. To do this, the program will bring together researchers with diverse disciplines and a shared goal — to understand, map, and communicate the multiscale human.
Applications Now Open: CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Program
The Multiscale Human program seeks to understand how the human body works across scales, from molecules all the way up to organs and physiological systems. In this incredibly complex and dynamic system, changes at the molecular level alter cell behaviour, tissue architecture and the function of organs; in the other direction, changes in the environment can feed into the body and cause molecular changes via effects on physiological systems. Even with recent technological advances that enable us to measure the human body at ever higher resolution, our understanding of how information transfers between scales to maintain health and to cause disease is rather limited. Further, most fields, from molecular biology to medicine only routinely consider one scale. There is a tremendous opportunity to transcend disciplinary barriers and develop more holistic multiscale models of healthy and diseased human body systems. A fundamental challenge is how to accomplish this by integrating large experimental data from many spatial and temporal scales while considering diversity in the 8 billion strong global population. The Multiscale Human program aims to understand the system at all these scales, creating an unprecedented reference atlas of the human body.
The program brings together a diverse set of researchers across Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Biophysics, Clinical Research, Computer Science, Computational Biology, Data Science, Engineering, Imaging, Neuroscience, and Physics. This set of researchers and practitioners will address how to integrate data from various modalities across spatial and temporal scales and across the global population. Our multiscale and interdisciplinary approach, aided by comprehensive and quantitative maps and models, will revolutionise the understanding, treatment and prediction of the major diseases that provide such a heavy burden to society and make it possible for many to live healthier, happier, and longer lives.
Path to Societal Impact
Areas of focus:
- Catalyzing medically relevant discoveries about how the human body works, from development to disease and aging
- Working with large biobank consortia to explore ways of incorporating global health and genetic data into multiscale maps and models of the human body
- Bringing together biologists with imaging, computational and digital cartography specialists to spur the development of new tools, both in hardware and software
Fellows & Advisors
Program Directors
Gary Bader
Program Co-Director
Katy Börner
Program Co-Director
Sarah Teichmann
Program Co-Director
Fellows
Alain Chédotal
Fellow
Barbara Engelhardt
Fellow
Stanford University
Ali Ertürk
Fellow
Ferdia Gallagher
Fellow
Sidhartha Goyal
Fellow
Muzlifah Haniffa
Fellow
Peter Lee
Fellow
Ed Lein
Fellow
Dana Pe'er
Fellow
Aviv Regev
Fellow
Nozomu Yachie
Fellow
University of British Columbia
University of Tokyo
Peter Zandstra
Fellow
Mei Zhen
Fellow
Nouvelles
Future Flourishing
The Future of Being Human
CIFAR unveiled three new programs that were selected from the Global Call for Ideas. These programs embody high-risk, hi...
June 06, 2023
Announcement
CIFAR’s Global Call for Ideas yields bold, new lines of inquiry on the future of being human
CIFAR’s Global Call for Ideas yields bold, new lines of inquiry on the future of being human
April 03, 2023Support Us
CIFAR is a registered charitable organization supported by the governments of Canada, Alberta and Quebec, as well as foundations, individuals, corporations and Canadian and international partner organizations.