Overview
- A coordinated package of 26 papers published on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, releases a basal ganglia atlas built from roughly 25.5 million cells drawn from six human donors plus macaque and marmoset samples.
- The resource combines single‑cell gene expression, epigenomic profiling and spatial maps so researchers can see which genes and regulatory 'switches' are active in each defined cell type.
- Investigators identified 61 conserved primate cell types and discovered six molecularly distinct zones in the striatum that have different mixes of neurons and glial cells.
- The studies link specific cell populations and regulatory elements to disorders such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, schizophrenia and autism but note that translating those links into treatments will take years.
- The atlas is a public reference intended to guide experiments, improve cross‑species translation and highlight person‑to‑person differences in cell makeup that researchers must account for in future work.