# “Can you please make the latest Human (GRCh38/hg38 or hg19) reference genome **URL:** \ **Category:** usegalaxy.org support\ **Tags:** tool-help, rna\_starsolo\ **Created:** [October 7, 2025, 12:24pm UTC](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/can-you-please-make-the-latest-human-grch38-hg38-or-hg19-reference-genome/16357 "2025-10-07T12:24:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Akriti\_Tewari\_Res\_Sc](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/help.galaxyproject.org/akriti_tewari_res_sc/32/7030_2.png) [@Akriti\_Tewari\_Res\_Sc](https://help.galaxyproject.org/u/Akriti_Tewari_Res_Sc)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 12:24pm UTC](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/can-you-please-make-the-latest-human-grch38-hg38-or-hg19-reference-genome/16357/1 "2025-10-07T12:24:34Z")
“Can you please make the latest Human (GRCh38/hg38 or hg19) reference genome and GTF annotation available for STARSolo analysis? My analysis is for human breast tissue.” ---
**Author:** ![jennaj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/help.galaxyproject.org/jennaj/32/27_2.png) [@jennaj](https://help.galaxyproject.org/u/jennaj)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/can-you-please-make-the-latest-human-grch38-hg38-or-hg19-reference-genome/16357/2 "2025-10-07T20:03:34Z")
Welcome @Akriti_Tewari_Res_Sc The **GRCh38/hg38** genome is available in **RNA STARSolo** at [UseGalaxy.org](http://UseGalaxy.org), [UseGalaxy.eu](http://UseGalaxy.eu), and [UseGalaxy.org.au](http://UseGalaxy.org.au). - [Reference genomes at public Galaxy servers: GRCh38/hg38 example](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/reference-genomes-at-public-galaxy-servers-grch38-hg38-example/11616) ![Screenshot 2025-10-07 at 12.54.51 PM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/galaxy/original/2X/6/611fb889b1965b047c992d9796753ad505616891.png) * * * If you are working at a different server, you will need to make the request to the administrators of the server directly. The contact information is usually on the homepage or login view of the server, but let us know if you cannot find it and we can try to help more here. We’ll need the full URL of the website (find this in your browser window at the top!). If this is your own server, then you can either load the genome directly (with the Data Managers), or attach the shared CVMFS resource (much easier!). Search the Admin Training area with “cvmfs” to find those tutorials. → [Public Galaxy Servers](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/public-galaxy-servers/10860) Or, you can move your work over to one of the UseGalaxy servers, run this step, then download or move your data back (by URL if a hosted server, by download/upload for the others). → [FAQ: Transfer entire histories from one Galaxy server to another](https://training.galaxyproject.org/training-material/faqs/galaxy/histories_transfer_entire_histories_from_one_galaxy_server_to_another.html) Hopefully this helps but please let us know if it actually does! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jennaj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/help.galaxyproject.org/jennaj/32/27_2.png) [@jennaj](https://help.galaxyproject.org/u/jennaj)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/can-you-please-make-the-latest-human-grch38-hg38-or-hg19-reference-genome/16357/3 "2025-10-08T16:24:23Z")
> [@jennaj](#): > > [Reference genomes at public Galaxy servers: GRCh38/hg38 example](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/reference-genomes-at-public-galaxy-servers-grch38-hg38-example/11616) Hello again – I wanted to clarify about the reference annotation GTF file for you or anyone else reading this later on. The guide above explains how to location annotation that is based on the same base assembly for human data. The first section contains the information you will probably be interested in if you are using the server index for the **hg38** assembly itself. > [@Reference genomes at public Galaxy servers: GRCh38/hg38 example](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/reference-genomes-at-public-galaxy-servers-grch38-hg38-example/11616/1): > > ## Human example → Homo Sapiens GRCh38 hg38 > > The version of **hg38** hosted as a native built-in index at UseGalaxy servers was sourced from UCSC. > > - Genome and Table Browser **Dec. 2013 (GRCh38/[hg38](http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgGateway?db=hg38))** > - [UCSC Genome Browser Downloads](https://hgdownload.soe.ucsc.edu/downloads.html#human) #human > > Other data provider sources of **GRCh38/hg38** can be slightly different. > > [..] (see the full guide for details about how assemblies can differ) > > ## **Choice 1: native reference genome, native database key, and user supplied reference annotation** > > UCSC hosts [GTF reference annotation in their Downloads area](https://hgdownload.soe.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/hg38/bigZips/genes/) from a few different gene annotation tracks based on their hg38 assembly. These would work with tools without extra manipulations (copy URL + Upload with auto detect defaults == ready to use). This would allow you to assign the hg38 database metadata key to any datasets based on the same assembly version (basepairs) and labeling (identifiers). This would _also_ allow you to link out to more display applications like IGV, UCSC, and others “automatically”. > > Other data sources are possible … but might need minor labeling or format adjustments. [Gencode hosts annotations](https://www.gencodegenes.org/human/releases.html) that are based on this same hg38 base assembly. Removing the # header lines is a good idea. We have lots of prior Q&A about this! #reference-genome #reference-annotation Examples: - UCSC as the annotation source > [@Where to get human reference annotation in gff3 or gtf format?](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/where-to-get-human-reference-annotation-in-gff3-or-gtf-format/12616/2): > > [FAQ: Working with GFF GFT GTF2 GFF3 reference annotation](https://training.galaxyproject.org/training-material/faqs/galaxy/datasets_working_with_reference_annotation.html) - Gencode as the annotation source: See the graphics and links in → [Human hg38 GTF, source Gencode](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/human-hg38-gtf-source-gencode/9203)