Sarah Teichmann, Ph.D., Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK FMedSci), Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), Wellcome Sanger Institute

Sarah Teichmann is co-founder and principal leader of the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) international consortium. The International Human Cell Atlas initiative aims to create comprehensive reference maps of all human cells to further understand health and disease.

The 37 trillion cells of the human body have a remarkable array of specialized functions, and must cooperate and collaborate in time and space to construct a functioning human. In this talk I will describe my lab’s efforts to understand this cellular diversity through a programme of cell atlasing. Harnessing cutting edge single cell genomics, imaging and computational technologies, we investigate development, homeostasis and disease states, at scale and in 3D, with a particular focus on immunity. I will illustrate the relevance of cell atlas-ing for engineering organoids and regenerative medicine, and will share new results providing insights into pacemaker cells from the sinoatrial node of this heart. Overall I hope to illustrate the power of single cell approaches in unlocking fundamental knowledge about the human body.