Mapping the Human Body One Cell at a Time

The 37 trillion cells of the human body have a remarkable array of specialised functions, and must cooperate and collaborate in time and space to construct a functioning human.

Single cell genomics and spatial technologies now help us understand this cellular diversity, how it is generated during development and how it goes wrong in disease. In this talk, Churchill Fellow Professor Sarah Teichmann will discuss a particularly exciting impact of cell atlasing technologies: the transformation of drug discovery and medicine.

We are particularly excited to host Professor Teichmann just after the announcement that she has been named as one of five international laureates of the 2026 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards. As the Laureate for Europe, Professor Teichmann has been rewarded for her outstanding interdisciplinary research using genome science and computational biology to understand the human body at single cell resolution. The award recognises her pioneering work in single-cell technologies, which provides fundamental resources for biomedical research, drug discovery, and public health; and additionally that she is an inspiring role model, an advocate for inclusion in science, and a leading educator.

Professor Sarah Teichmann FRS FMedSci

Sarah completed her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, and was a Beit Memorial Fellow at University College London. She established her research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 2001, where her main discoveries included the finding that protein assembly pathways are stereotypical and conserved. In 2013, she transitioned to the Wellcome Genome Campus, where she became the first and, to date, the only faculty member appointed across both the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. In 2016, she was appointed as the Head of the Cellular Genetics programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and co-founded the Human Cell Atlas initiative. From April 2024, she was appointed chair in Stem Cell Medicine at the University of Cambridge, within the Department of Medicine and the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. Additionally, Sarah dedicates part of her time to GlaxoSmithKline, is a non-executive director of 10x Genomics, and has co-founded two startup companies. The Teichmann lab focuses on developing and applying cell atlas technologies to understand human tissue architecture, particularly examining how cellular diversity is generated in the immune system and during development

Entry is free but booking is essential using our form. Please note that this event is part of our Alumni Weekend programme, however, you are most welcome to book to attend even if not attending other events at Churchill across the weekend. The University is also advertising this talk as part of their Alumni Festival, but alumni are only to required to book once, whether through the College or University.