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Does Harmony batch correction for scRNA-seq require the same populations to be present in all samples?

Hi,

I would like to use Harmony to remove batch effects from my 10x Genomics scRNA-seq data combined from three donors. However, I am wondering whether Harmony requires the same cell populations to be present in all samples, or how it deals with a population that is e.g. unique to one donor?

Many thanks,

Lucy

harmony single-cell scrna-seq batch-effect

looks like it requires same population.

2 answers

No. They illustrate that a point with the main figure on their tutorial page:

enter image description here

Harmony uses fuzzy clustering to assign each cell to multiple clusters, while a penalty term ensures that the diversity of datasets within each cluster is maximized.

Thanks, this shows cell types that are present in two out of the three datasets. Does this work equally well if one of your populations is only present in a single dataset?

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