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.

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.

Richard Drake is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina and SmartState Endowed Chair in Proteomics. His lab developed the workflows for glycan-targeted mass spectrometry imaging of clinical tissues and biofluids for biomarker discovery and development of new diagnostics. He is a founder of GlycoPath Inc., recently sold to Bruker Corporation, which developed the GlycoTyper antibody array assay platform for rapid clinical analysis of serum and immune cell glycoproteins. Current efforts are in the large scale application of N-glycan MS imaging methods to identify glycan biomarker panels associated with tumor, stroma and immune regions of cancer tissues. Further, these glycan maps are being used to identify the localized glycoprotein carriers using new sialic acid targeted affinity reagents. The glycan imaging workflows are highly synergistic with emerging multi-modality spatial-omic analysis strategies at the macro and single cell levels.

Oliver joined Bruker as the Director of Research and Development in 2023. He is responsible for the ongoing development of the CellScape Spatial Biology platform. The CellScape enables precise spatial multiplexing of proteins at any plex-level with cellular and subcellular resolution. Oliver’s R&D team is based in St. Louis, MO & Hannover, Germany. The team is committed to developing turnkey solutions for spatial multiplexing in discovery, translational and clinical research. Oliver has more than 15 years of experience in imaging and spatial biology, and he actively publishes research related to cancer immunology, neuroscience and infectious disease. Oliver received his PhD from Dalhousie University, Canada, and he has developed multiple techniques aimed at democratizing and maximizing biomarker detection with optical microscopy.

Dr. Elsa Molina, PhD, is an enthusiastic researcher specialising in genomics with a strong passion for the emerging field of spatial biology in health and disease. Dr. Molina international research experience spans across laboratories in France, Australia, and the USA, where she has honed extensive expertise in molecular cell biology, next-generation sequencing, single-cell genomics and spatial omics. Currently serving as the Director of the Single-Cell & Spatial Omics Core at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, Dr. Molina leads a team dedicated to providing state-of-the-art instruments and expertise in single-cell and spatial biology. Driven by a desire to push the boundaries of biomedical research and improve global health, Dr. Molina remains committed to exploring and implementing cutting-edge genomic technologies that keep research internationally competitive.

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.

Bartijn Pieters is an Inside Sales Specialist at 10x Genomics specializing in single-cell and spatial transcriptomics. Previously worked as Technical Support Scientist at 10x, with an academic research background in intercellular communication, molecular genetics and immunology.

Katrin is an accomplished biologist with longstanding experience in the field of medical research. During her academic career at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, she investigated the mechanisms involved in physiological healing of the skin after injury and autoimmune diseases that alter the extracellular matrix in the skin through excessive inflammation, such as scleroderma. Throughout her studies, she combined various imaging and omics-based technologies, such as transcriptomics and proteomics to investigate tissue architecture and cellular composition, enabling her to uncover the underlying biological processes involved in skin pathologies. In 2023, she joined the Spatial Biology team, where she harnesses her knowledge to support researchers in the adaptation of Miltenyi Biotec’s Spatial Biology technologies for various applications from basic research and development to clinical science.

Dr Denise Ragusa is currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Brunel University London. Her background is in cytogenetics of haematological malignancies, having completed her PhD at Brunel University London focusing on 2D and 3D in vitro modelling approaches for infant acute myeloid leukaemia. Her research interest encompasses experimental and computational approaches to generate clinically-accurate models of haematological malignancies, with the aim of uncovering biological mechanisms and identifying therapeutic targets.