OUR GLOBAL NUTRITIONAL SECURITY THAT RELIES ON POULTRY PRODUCTS CAN BE DRASTICALLY DISRUPTED BY PERIODIC PATHOGEN CHALLENGES AND THUS REQUIRES THE CONTINUED STUDY OF THE HOST IMMUNE SYSTEM. TODAY THE SCOPE OF GENE MARKERS AVAILABLE THAT DEFINE AVIAN CELL-TYPE AND OUR CELL-SPECIFIC WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHICKEN IMMUNE SYSTEM IS NOT ADEQUATE. IN ADDITION, THE CHICKEN REFERENCE GENOME STANDS AS THE CRUCIAL STARTING POINT FOR NUMEROUS STUDIES DESIGNED TO DISCOVER TRAIT VARIATION ASSOCIATED WITH IMMUNE RESPONSE. TO FACILITATE THE EXPANDED USE OF THIS CRITICAL RESOURCE IN THE CONTEXT OF FUTURE STUDIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES, WE ADDRESS THREE CRITICAL NEEDS: A MORE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CHICKEN REFERENCE GENOME ASSEMBLY, INCLUDING NEW REFERENCES FOR REPRESENTATIVE LAYER AND BROILER GENETIC LINES, A CELL ATLAS TO CATALOG ALL IMMUNE CELL TYPES THAT INCLUDES CELL-SPECIFIC BIOMARKERS FOR THE CHICKEN'S MAJOR IMMUNE ORGAN SYSTEMS AND AN GENOME BROWSER PORTAL TO SIMPLIFY ACCESS AND QUERIES OF ALL DATA GENERATED. THE FRUITION OF ALL THESE EFFORTS PROMISES TO PROVIDE THE POULTRY INDUSTRY AND THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY THE MOST ACCURATE AND COMPLETE SET OF CHICKEN GENOME RESOURCES TO DATE.