On Sept. 24, 2025, an ambitious and revolutionary initiative aims to map every cell of all eukaryotic life on Earth. The result will be a Biodiversity Cell Atlas, which will reveal nature’s secrets and help inform conservation efforts at a level that is not currently possible.

This plan, crafted by leading experts from around the world, is detailed in a Perspective published in Nature. This global, collaborative effort is spearheaded by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, and further supported by experts worldwide.

The ambitious atlas will enable experts to understand life at single-cell resolution, with potential implications for many different areas beyond basic research, including conservation, industrial applications, and drug discovery. By being able to compare cell types and gene expression across species and life stages, this work aims to create a map of life that uncovers more about the biology of every cell and how they interact with the cells around them.

The Biodiversity Cell Atlas plans to bridge this gap by understanding how every cell decodes and interprets the genetic information stored in DNA, building on the sequencing efforts of projects such as the Darwin Tree of Life.

The new Perspective sets out the first stage of the Biodiversity Cell Atlas, which will test and compare protocols for analyzing single-cell gene expression in various species. This allows the team to create a universal process for collecting, sequencing, and processing data in a standardized way to ensure that the atlas can be built, used, and applied worldwide.