The Spatial Biology Revolution 2024

Sarah did her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK and was a Beit Memorial Fellow at University College London. She started her group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 2001, where they described conserved pathways of protein complex assembly, and a “periodic table of protein complexes”, using biophysics and data science. After starting work on single cell genomics of T cells, in 2013, she moved to the Wellcome Genome Campus where she was the first and to date only faculty member appointed across both the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. There, she was a founding member of the Sanger-EBI Single Cell Genomics Centre. In 2016, Sarah was appointed as Head of the Cellular Genetics programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and co-founded the international Human Cell Atlas consortium. This initiative creates reference maps for cells across all human tissues and has grown to include over three thousand members across the world. She also co-directs the CIFAR MacMillan Multiscale Human research programme. From April 2024, Sarah has taken up the chair in Stem Cell Medicine at the University of Cambridge, Department of Medicine/Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. She now also spends part of her time at GlaxoSmithKline, and the startup company she co-founded, EnsoCell Therapeutics. While maintaining a molecular and biophysics perspective, Sarah’s laboratory has developed and applied cell atlas technologies to decipher human tissue architecture, with a particular focus on how cellular diversity is generated in the immune system and through development. Her work has been recognised by numerous awards, including the EMBO Gold Medal, Genetics Society Mary Lyons Award, Biochemical Society GlaxoSmithKline Award, the FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Award among others. She is an EMBO Member, ISCB Fellow, and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Royal Society.

As a bioinformatician and translational researcher, Jason focuses on developing novel platforms and methods for identifying biomarkers for disease and therapeutic intervention. As the Director of Application Science at Nucleai, he collaborates with engineers, pathologists, and medical biologists to apply the company’s advanced AI-powered solutions to clinical trial datasets and help biopharma partners realize the fullest potential of their spatial biology studies.

Stefan studied molecular biology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, where he also did his PhD in the lab of Renato Paro. After completing his PhD, Stefan joined Peter Fraser’s lab at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge UK to study how the three-dimensional organisation of the mammalian genome governs its function. Among the major contributions they have made, they were the first to show that co-regulated genes cluster in 3D at specialised sub-nuclear compartments, and to develop genome-scale technology to capture the interactions between arguably the two most important gene control elements in the human genome, enhancers and promoters. In 2020, he co-founded the biotech spin-out Enhanc3D Genomics to translate his findings from basic research into applications that could directly improve human health. Today, he splits his time between his roles as chief scientific adviser at Enhanc3D Genomics and as lead of his academic research programme at the Babraham Institute.