SAN JOSE, Calif. — Moments after being taken off life support, an anonymous Bay Area woman gave the most abundant of gifts: 17 different tissues and organs.
Some were transplanted into strangers in need, but many others were rushed off on a unique mission. They were donated for research — contributing to a first-ever detailed “cell atlas,” a reference guide of cell types and behaviors that will transform our understanding of health and disease.
She was one of 15 different California donors to the Tabula Sapiens project, a team of dozens of surgeons, scientists and tissue-recovery coordinators led by San Francisco’s CZ Biohub in collaboration with Donor Network West, Stanford, UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley.
