An Integrated Transcriptomics Atlas of Healthy Human Skin Focusing on the Pilosebaceous Unit

These technologies enable the construction of high-quality reference atlases, essential for mapping healthy tissue architecture and identifying robust gene markers. We developed a healthy Human Skin Cell Atlas (HSCA), systematically integrating 34 public datasets and totaling 819,068 cells, with curated metadata and harmonized cell type nomenclature to ensure consistency.

We place particular emphasis on the pilosebaceous unit, a key epithelial structure critical for both homeostasis and pathology. While prior studies captured the interfollicular epidermis and immune landscape in detail, deeper hair follicle regions remained under-characterized. By leveraging high-resolution spatial transcriptomics (Visium HD), we spatially resolved and transcriptionally defined the lower hair follicle compartments and pinpointed important signalling hubs.