This scientist is helping build a missing map of childhood
Bioinformatician Deanne Taylor is leading efforts to include pediatric data in the Human Cell Atlas project. Her work aims to address the medical research gap where children are often treated as small adults, leading to the NIH-funded Developmental Genotype-Tissue Expression Project.
Why it matters
Establishing a comprehensive database of healthy pediatric tissue is critical for developing safer, age-appropriate medical treatments and drug dosages for children.
Deanne Taylor is pushing researchers to prioritize children’s health, starting at a cellular level.
In 2017, Deanne Taylor attended a presentation at the University of Pennsylvania, just a short walk from her office. A researcher was there to unveil the Human Cell Atlas, an ambitious project that aimed to map every cell in the human body. Taylor was floored, and then concerned. As details emerged, she discovered that the project’s researchers had only made plans to study adults. “That’s when my little alarm went off,” she says. “ Not again. ”
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