Research

A proposal for an open, lifespan-spanning reference atlas of the human cardio–metabolic axis—integrating heart, vasculature, liver, and adipose across ancestries and metabolic states. We outline standardized tissue sampling and metadata, multi-omic + spatial profiling (sc/snRNA-seq, ATAC-seq, CITE-seq, spatial transcriptomics, 3D imaging), and the computational foundations needed for cross-organ harmonization: ontology unification, batch-aware integration, and perturbation-aware representation learning to distinguish conserved versus organ-specific cell states. The atlas serves as a shared coordinate system for interpreting disease perturbations (HF, CAD, arrhythmias, diabetes/obesity, MASLD/MASH), refining disease taxonomy, and guiding cell-type-specific therapeutics.