Overview
- The launch is detailed in a Science Advances paper published March 11, 2026, making the atlas publicly accessible through a standard web browser.
- The release covers 56 organs with 307 full 3D datasets from 25 donors across 11 organ types, enabling navigation from whole-organ views to near-cellular resolution.
- Datasets were generated using Hierarchical Phase-Contrast Tomography at the ESRF’s Extremely Brilliant Source, scanning intact ex vivo organs non-destructively with submicron detail in some cases.
- The portal offers interactive in-browser visualization, multi-resolution downloads, tutorials and analysis tools, with files ranging from hundreds of gigabytes to a 14-terabyte human brain.
- Early work with this technique revealed microscopic vascular injury in COVID-19 lungs and advanced cardiac and gynecological research, as the team moves to broaden donor diversity and develop larger datasets for future whole-body imaging and AI training.