Human Cell Lineage Mapping Facility

The project aims to trace how every type of human cell develops from a single fertilized egg, creating a complete developmental atlas. This goes beyond the Human Cell Atlas by mapping not just what cells exist, but the precise sequence of divisions and differentiations that produce them.

If successful, the map would allow researchers to identify exactly where cellular development goes wrong in diseases like cancer, autoimmune disorders, and birth defects. Drug companies could test compounds against digital cell models before running animal or human trials.

The facility is in early construction (TRL 2-3). The fundamental challenge is scale: the human body contains roughly 37 trillion cells across 200+ types, and tracing their lineage requires single-cell sequencing at unprecedented throughput. China's bet is that industrial-scale genomics infrastructure can brute-force a problem that has eluded smaller research programs.