Why iMAPS?
3.8
BILLION YEARS
< 1%
EXPLORED
Facing challenges from industrialization, antibiotic abuse, climate change, and biodiversity loss, preserving and mobilizing the magic power of microbial metabolism is more urgent than ever. However, current approaches, such as those focusing on community-level sequencing, are generally unable to directly reveal the in-situ metabolic functions of microbial cells, or to efficiently obtain live pure cultures of individual cells of target in-situ metabolic function, from a microbiota sample.
iMAPS introduces the metaramanomics approach, to profile the in-situ metabolic activities of live single-cells from a microbiome, and then directly sort them out for single-cell culture or sequencing, based on high-throughput Raman flow sorters.
What We Aim to Deliver
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State-of-the-art metaramanomics platforms that generate single-cell 6W for each microbiota.
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Distributed biobanks of live microbial cultures with targeted in-situ metabolic function (and synthetic consortia) produced by the metaramanomics platforms.
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Diverse applications in healthcare, sustainable agriculture, infectious disease control, environmental restoration, and green biomanufacturing based on indigenous microbial resources.
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Globally coordinated endeavors to tackle climate change, antimicrobial resistance, hunger and malnutrition, sustainable manufacturing and other pressing challenges that face the human society.
iMAPS Vision
To unlock the hidden metabolic potential of Earth’s microbiomes — one cell at a time —
for human health, environmental sustainability, and global prosperity.
iMAPS Mission
iMAPS (in-situ Metabolic Atlas Projects @ Single-cell) is a global initiative that brings together pioneering
single-cell metabolic profiling/sorting technologies, Al-powered data platforms, and an open international network.
Our mission is to
Establish a distributed, automated, intelligent network of “metabolic sensors + strain miners +
ecological restorers", enabling real-time microbiota functional profiling and function-strain mining.
Our mission is to
Break the century-old bottleneck of microbiology by shifting from "sequence-predicted metabolic potential" to "experimentally measured single-cell in-situ metabolic function plus their live cultures".
Our mission is to
Provide a globally distributed biobank network of indigenous microbial strains with in-situ function (and their synthetic microbial consortia) to benefit the welfare and economy of local communities, and accelerate solutions in precision health, food
security, climate resilience, clean energy, and next-generation biomanufacturing.
Our Approach
Metaramanomics
A "metaramanome" is the collection of single-cell Raman Spectra randomly sampled from a microbiota, which represents the single-cell-resolution metabolic phenome of the microbiota at that particular state. "Metaramanomics" refers to the approach and technological platform that produce the single-cell 6W (doing What, Wealth, Who, Why, When, Where) data plus functional-strain bank, by Raman flow cytometry and Raman-activated Cell Sorting coupled to single-cell/mini-meta cultivation, DNA/RNA sequencing or mass-spec analyses.
Microbiome Single-cell 6W Framework
To exhaustively answer and tackle single-cell 6W: metabolically doing What, Wealth (live culture), Who (genome), Why (transcriptome, proteome, metabolome), When, Where, for a microbiota sample.
In-Situ-Metabolism Directed Single-cell Multiomics
Linking single-cell metabolic phenome to single-cell culturome, single-cell DNA/RNA sequencing or single-cell mass spec.
Global iMAPS Network
A global consortium of universities, companies, research institutions, and government agencies, to establish 60 nodes worldwide, with each node serving as a "metablic sensor, functional-strain miner, and ecological remediator" to together understand, preserve and sustainably explore the power of microbiota.
From Discovery to Application
Bridging frontier science and practical use for microbiome, and transforming "Microbiome Single-cell 6W" insights into innovations in health, agriculture, environment, and biomanufacturing industry that can directly contribute to the tackling of global challenges and the wellbeing of local communities.
History & Milestones
May 2023 – A-STEP Alliance
Launch of the Alliance of Single-cell TEchnology for Probiotics (A-STEP) in Beijing by the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (QIBEBT, CAS), the China National Research Institute of Food & Fermentation Industries (CNRIFFI), CheersHealth Institute, and Single-cell Biotech Co., Ltd., joined by academic and industrial partners including Jiangnan University, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Yili Group, Mengniu Dairy Group, COFCO Nutrition and Health Research Institute, International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Novozymes OneHealth, DSM Nutritional Products, Fonterra, and BGI Genomics.
June 2024 – P.R.E.P.
The Pathogen Ramanomics Engine Project (P.R.E.P.) was launched by QIBEBT, CAS, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), and the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS), establishing single-cell precision for pathogen identification, tracing, and drug testing.
July 2024 – Agri-MAPS
The in situ Metabolic Atlas Project @ Single-cell for Agriculture (Agri-MAPS) was initiated by QIBEBT, CAS, the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IARRP, CAAS), the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, CAS (IGA, CAS), and the Moutai Institute of Science and Technology, applying “function-first, then cultivation” workflows to soil microbiomes for sustainable agriculture.
October 2024 – iMAPS-ES
The in situ Metabolic Atlas Project @ Single-cell for Environmental Sustainability (iMAPS-ES) was launched in Qingdao with partners including the University of Oklahoma, University of Oxford, University of California San Diego, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Procter & Gamble (P&G), targeting ecosystem monitoring and ecological restoration.
December 2024 – iMAPS-Probiotics
The in situ Metabolic Atlas Project @ Single-cell for Probiotics (iMAPS-Probiotics) was launched in Wuxi by QIBEBT, CAS and Jiangnan University, focusing on gut microbiota and accelerating probiotic discovery and industrial application with partners such as the University of Hong Kong, Tongji University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of California San Diego, Yili Group, and COFCO Nutrition and Health Research Institute.
August 2025 – Training Workshop
At the 16th National Symposium on Microbial Resources, QIBEBT, CAS and IARRP, CAAS co-hosted the iMAPS Training Workshop, with 150+ participants, demonstrating Agri-MAPS as a testbed for translating single-cell technologies into agriculture.
2025 and Beyond – iMAPS Consortium
iMAPS is evolving into a global distributed consortium, building a real-time network of “metabolic sensors + strain miners + ecological restorers” and creating a dynamic Global Microbial Metabolic Atlas.
May 2023
June 2024
July 2024
Oct 2024
Dec 2024
Aug 2025
2025+
FAQs
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The International in-situ Metabolic Atlas Projects @ Single-cell — a global effort to explore, preserve, and apply the hidden metabolic power of microbes at single-cell resolution.
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Unlike traditional metagenomics, iMAPS reveals living metabolic functions directly in single cells, enabling real-time detection, sorting, cultivation, and reuse.
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A "metaramanome" is the collection of single-cell Raman Spectra randomly sampled from a microbiota, which represents the single-cell-resolution metabolic phenome of the microbiota at that particular state. "Metaramanomics" refers to the approach and technological platform that produce the single-cell 6W (doing What, Wealth, Who, Why, When, Where) data plus functional-strain bank, by Raman flow cytometry and Raman-activated Cell Sorting coupled to single-cell/mini-meta cultivation, DNA/RNA sequencing or mass-spec analyses.
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Academic researchers, industry partners, and policy organizations worldwide are welcome to join the iMAPS network.
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In precision health, sustainable agriculture, infectious disease prevention, environmental restoration, clean energy, and advanced biomanufacturing.
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