The Plant Cell Atlas Initiative
The Plant Cell Atlas (PCA) is a community resource that comprehensively describes the state of various plant cell types and integrates high-resolution location information of nucleic acids, proteins, and metabolites within plant cells.
Our published perspective, “Towards Building a Plant Cell Atlas,” laid the foundation and strategic vision for the Plant Cell Atlas (PCA) initiative. Since then, the community has grown substantially. PCA has expanded its programming to include annual meetings, focused workshops, working groups, training opportunities, and community-driven resources. Together, these efforts are advancing the development of a comprehensive, accessible Plant Cell Atlas and fostering collaboration across disciplines to build the PCA community.
This initiative is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (Grant #’s MCB-1916797, MCB-2052590, and MCB-2420360) Michigan State University, and The Plant Resilience Institute.
Developed with input from C-SPIRIT & PCA, The BAR Single Cell Data Portal is now in beta, feat. curated scRNA-seq datasets, interactive data exploration, & the new SUPeR Viewer!
Explore the portal:
https://bar.utoronto.ca/single_cell_data_portal/
Breaking News
28 September 2026
Developed with input from C-SPIRIT and PCA, The BAR Single Cell Data Portal is now in beta, featuring curated scRNA-seq datasets, interactive data exploration, and the new SUPeR Viewer! This resource helps researchers explore gene expression across plant cell types in new ways. Explore the portal here!
21 September 2026
Check out the latest publication from PCA Member Chris Anderton and team published in The Plant Cell: “Unlocking the Full Potential of Spatial Omics in Plants: Practical Challenges, Solutions, and a Path Forward.”
16 September 2026
PCA Member Kevin Cox Jr recognized as one of the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2026 40 Under 40!
27 August 2026
We’re excited to share that PCA member Dr. Tessa Burch-Smith will be the international plenary speaker for this year’s Black in Plant Science Conference! Tessa’s research explores intercellular communication in plants and plant-virus interactions. She is also President-Elect of the American Society of Plant Biologists and a strong advocate for broadening participation in science.
Registration is open for this event here!
13 August 2026
A new review from PCA Member Tatsuya Nobori has been published in Science Direct, “Nutrients as signals that spatially organize plant–microbe interactions.”
20 August 2026
We are so excited to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2027 Single-Cell Approaches in Plant Biology Gordon Research Conference!