Prof. Aidong Liu
Principal Investigator
Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
About the Atlas
The Longevity & Aging Cell Atlas is a consortium dedicated to mapping cellular changes across the entire lifespan of diverse organisms, from development to aging.
Our Mission
We aim to create the most comprehensive single-cell atlas of aging, providing the scientific community with unprecedented insights into how cells change throughout life.
By profiling millions of cells across multiple species and tissues, we seek to understand the fundamental biology of aging and identify potential targets for interventions that promote healthy lifespan.
Our Approach
We combine cutting-edge single-cell technologies with rigorous computational analysis to generate high-quality, standardized datasets.
Our multi-species approach enables comparative analysis of aging mechanisms, from short-lived mice to long-lived naked mole rats, revealing both conserved and species-specific features of cellular aging.
Our Journey
2021
Project Launch
Initial funding secured and consortium established with founding members from 12 institutions worldwide.
2022
First Data Release
Released pilot datasets covering mouse and naked mole rat tissues with 2M+ cells profiled.
2024
Major Expansion
Expanded to include human, macaque, and rat data. Interactive browser launched.
2025
v1.0 Database Release
12.8M Single Cells across 134 species. Interactive atlas and gene expression query tools launched; spatial transcriptomics integration underway.
2026
Current Phase
Web portal redesigned for usability and accessibility across all pages. Cross-species comparison tools and spatial datasets expanded; companion manuscript in preparation for Nucleic Acids Research.
Research Team
Prof. Shufang Cui
Principal Investigator
Naval Medical University
Prof. Yizhi Yu
Principal Investigator
Naval Medical University
Prof. Sheng Xu
Principal Investigator
Naval Medical University
Dr. Dongsheng Chen
Principal Investigator
Suzhou Institute of Systems Medicine
Dr. Shulei Yin
Associate Professor
Naval Medical University
Dr. Yutao Chen
PostDoc
Naval Medical University
Mr. Chunzhen Li
Team member
Naval Medical University
Mr. Yingling Wen
Team member
Naval Medical University
Mr. Shengwei Tian
Team member
Suzhou Institute of Systems Medicine
Mr. Yuerwei Guan
Team member
Suzhou Institute of Systems Medicine
Mr. Xuan Yang
Team member
Harbin Institute of Technology
Mr. Shikai Wang
Team member
Suzhou Institute of Systems Medicine
Comparison with Existing Resources
LACA occupies a unique niche among aging and single-cell resources by combining cross-species longevity coverage, lifespan-spanning sampling, naked mole-rat representation, and interactive cell atlas views in one resource.
| Feature | LACA (This work) | Aging Atlas | LongevityMap | CellxGene | Tabula Sapiens | SCAdb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Aging / longevity cell atlas | Aging multi-omics | Human longevity variants | General single-cell platform | Human multi-organ atlas | Aging single-cell atlas |
| Species coverage | 134 species incl. NMR | Human / mouse / rat / macaque | Human only | Human / mouse + community datasets | Human only | Mouse / human |
| Longevity species (NMR) | Included | Not dedicated | No - human variants | Not a focus | No | No |
| Core data type | scRNA atlas + metadata | Transcriptomics, scRNA, epigenomics, proteomics, pharmacogenomics | Genetic association variants | Standardized single-cell datasets | Single-cell transcriptomics | Aging scRNA datasets |
| Age range | Lifespan stages | Aging contrasts | Long-lived human cohorts | Varies by dataset | Adult donors | Young-old |
| Tissues / organs | 73 tissues | Multi-tissue aging datasets | Not tissue-based | Hundreds of datasets | 24 organs | 10+ tissues |
| Cell count / scale | 148M cells | Multi-omics records | Variant and study records | 33M+ cells / 436 datasets | ~500K cells | >2M cells |
| Integrated aging metrics | Yes | Partial | Genetics only | No | No | Partial |
| Cross-species comparison | Built-in | Selected species | No | Manual | No | Partial |
| Free access | Open | Academic free | Open | Open | Open | Open |
Future Development
๐๏ธ Near-term (2025)
- Expand coverage beyond 148M Single Cells across 134 species
- Add C. elegans and zebrafish datasets
- Launch REST API v2 with programmatic data access
- Implement cell type trajectory analysis
๐ Mid-term (2025โ2026)
- Spatial transcriptomics integration (10x Visium, Slide-seq)
- ATAC-seq and multiome data modules
- Standardized h5ad downloads with CellTypist annotations
- Cross-species gene ortholog alignment tool
๐ญ Long-term (2026+)
- Protein-level aging atlas (spatial proteomics)
- Longitudinal cohort integration
- Aging intervention dataset collection
- Machine learning-based biological age prediction module
Get in Touch
Interested in collaborating, accessing data, or learning more about the project? We'd love to hear from you.