Spatial Biology On-Demand

Lingyan Shi

Prof. Lingyan Shi’s research focuses on developing high-resolution, high-speed multimodal microscopy and its applications for studying metabolic dynamics in aging and diseases. She discovered the “Golden Window” for deep tissue imaging and developed the metabolic imaging platforms including “DO-SRS” and “STRIDE”. Shi group at UCSD transformed SRS into a super-resolution multiplex microscopy using A-PoD and PRM algorithms, uncovering lipid metabolic dynamics in the brain and fat tissues during aging processes. Dr. Shi holds 8 awarded patents. She received the Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientist in 2018, the Hellman Fellowship Award in 2021-2022, the “Rising Star Award” from Nature Light Science & Applications in 2021, the rising star junior faculty award by BMES-Cell and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) society, the “Advancing Bioimaging Scialog Fellow” by RCSA and CZI, the “David L. William Lecture & Scholarship” Award from the Kern Lipid Conference, and the “Sloan Research Fellow” Award in Chemistry in 2023.

Stephen Wong

With over three decades of research and leadership experience in healthcare, tech industry, and academic medicine, Stephen is the John S. Dunn Presidential Distinguished Chair, Founding Chair of Systems Medicine and Bioengineering Department, Director of the T.T. & W.F. Chao Center for BRAIN, Associate Director of Houston Methodist Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Hospital; and Professor of Radiology, Neurosciences, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cornell University. His research focuses on molecular mechanisms of cancer, neurological disorders and metabolic diseases and translates discoveries to improve diagnosis and treatment. He is a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), Optica (formerly Optical Society in America), American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI), American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), as well as a licensed professional engineer (PE).

Philip Maini

Philip Maini has been working in the area of mathematical modelling in the life sciences for over 40 years. He is the Inaugural Professor of Mathematical Biology at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci). He has published over 400 research journal papers in using mechanistic mathematical modelling to address problems in developmental biology, wound healing, and spread of disease.

Sandra Diaz Garcia

Sandra Diaz-Garcia is a distinguished scientist specialized in molecular biology, genetics, and neurosciences. She earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain, followed by a Ph.D. in Biomedicine in 2013.

In her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), she delved into CRISPR/Cas9 technology and molecular biology. She transitioned to Neuroscience in 2016, where she investigated neurodegenerative diseases, particularly ALS, identifying potential therapeutic targets. Recognized for her contributions, she served as an Assistant Project Scientist at UCSD, focusing on ALS, FTD and LATE research. In 2021, she joined J&J Innovative Medicine, in La Jolla, as a Scientist in Molecular Pathology, in the department of Preclinical Sciences & Translational Safety where she supports the discovery and development of a diverse portfolio of therapeutic solutions for patients.

Amos Lee

Amos Chungwon Lee is a highly accomplished engineer, scientist, and entrepreneur specializing in bioengineering and spatial omics technologies. He holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Seoul National University, complemented by a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley. As CEO and co-founder of Meteor Biotech, he drives innovation in spatial omics for medical applications. His academic journey includes notable research in spatial transcriptomics and targeted genomics, resulting in high-impact publications and awarded patents. Amos has contributed significantly to the fields of synthetic biology, DNA nanotechnology, and cancer genomics, collaborating with global research teams and co-founding companies to advance healthcare solutions. Recognized with awards for his pioneering research, he actively participates in conferences and advisory boards, bridging the gap between scientific research and commercialization for cutting-edge biotechnologies.

Kyoung Jae Won

Dr. Kyoung-Jae Won received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electronics from Chung-Ang University, Korea in 1996, and 1998, respectively. He received his PhD in Electronics and Computer Science from the University of Southampton, UK in 2006. He worked at the University of Copenhagen in 2006 and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) from 2007 to 2010 as a postdoctoral researcher. He joined at the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania as a Research Assistant Professor in 2011 and BRIC, University of Copenhagen as an Associate Professor in 2018. He joined Cedars-Sinai in 2022. He has interested in developing computational algorithms for single cell and spatial genomics data.

Leah Schaffer

Leah Schaffer received her Bachelors in Chemistry from Creighton University and PhD in Chemistry from University of Wisconsin-Madison. During her PhD, she developed computational approaches for identifying modified proteins from mass spectrometry-based proteomics data. She is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Ideker lab at the University of California, San Diego. Her research involves integrating large-scale protein interaction networks and imaging datasets into maps of cell structure.

Sripad Ram

Sripad Ram heads the digital pathology and image analysis group at Pfizer which supports histopathology image analysis for preclinical and early-stage clinical programs across the Pfizer portfolio. His research interests include digital scoring of IHC biomarkers for clinical specimens and AI/ML algorithm development for whole-slide image analysis. He received his PhD in Bioengineering from UT Southwestern Medical Center and continued his postdoctoral research at the same institution as a National Multiple Sclerosis Society Postdoctoral Fellow where he developed novel microscopy tools to image macromolecule transcytosis across the blood-brain barrier at the single molecule level. He continued is postdoctoral work in the field of cancer therapeutics and antibody engineering where he investigated the trafficking mechanisms of trastuzumab in breast cancer cells. Prior to joining Pfizer, he worked at Carl Zeiss Inc as a microscopy systems specialist.

Alex Klimowicz

Alex Klimowicz is a Senior Principal Scientist in the Department of Immunology and Respiratory Disease Research at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  In this capacity he leads the Spatial Biology Lab, implementing and applying cutting edge spatial biology platforms and image analysis workflows to build target to disease linkage in human tissue specimens for projects and external collaborations across the Department.  Alex holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and has over 15 years of experience in the fields of digital pathology and quantitative immunohistochemsitry.  Prior to moving to Boehringer Ingelheim, Alex was an Adjunct Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology at the University of Calgary, where he led a core quantitative immunohistochemsitry lab focused on cancer biomarker research.

Lorenz Rognoni

Lorenz Rognoni is the Director of Image Data Science at Ultivue, a position he has held since October 2021. Before joining Ultivue, he was a Principal AI Scientist at AstraZeneca, leading the development of multiplex IHC image and data analysis pipelines for their Immuno-Oncology program and before that held several roles at Definiens, including Senior Team Manager of Image Analysis. Lorenz is a physicist by training and holds a Ph.D. in biophysics from the Technical University of Munich, where he studied single biomolecule mechanics using optical tweezers. With over 15 years of academic and professional experience in life-sciences data analysis and over 10 years of experience in the field of computational pathology and tissue biomarker development Lorenz excels in bridging life sciences and computer sciences to tackle complex problems. Lorenz is passionate about fighting cancer with artificial intelligence, computer vision and data science.

Marc Claesen

Marc Claesen is the CEO and one of the founding members of Aspect Analytics. He obtained his PhD in machine learning at KU Leuven, focusing on scalable machine learning, modeling strategies for imperfect labeling and automation of data analysis pipelines. While completing a postdoc in bioinformatics, Marc developed a passion for leveraging data science & software engineering to support life sciences research. As a result, he co-founded Aspect Analytics, a software company focused on making tools to uncover the mysteries of spatial multi omics data analysis for key applications in life sciences, pharmaceutical and biomarker research. In his spare time, Marc enjoys trying to replicate complex restaurant dishes for his wife and children, and possesses the ability to make Dad Jokes at will.

Brian Reichholf

Brian completed his PhD work at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna, working on RNA biology and bioinformatics. He built on his interest in data analysis and AI during a short stint in the banking sector and is now a Principal Scientist at Boehringer Ingelheim, working in the department of Translational Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology, focusing on pre-clinical oncological translational science. Here he works on novel methods in digital pathology and analytical approaches to multimodal biomarker analysis, with the goal of translating the findings in the pre-clinical stage to clinical settings.

Christoph Kuppe

Dr. Christoph Kuppe, a physician scientist and Professor for Quantitative Cell Dynamics and Translational Systems Biology at RWTH Aachen University, spearheads pioneering research on cellular mechanisms in heart and kidney disease. His work elucidates the intricate cellular heterogeneity of fibroblasts in these tissues, identifying pivotal disease drivers. Dr. Kuppe and his team are experts in spatial multiomic data analysis, merging innovative approaches with extensive expertise in molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics. The collaborative ethos of the Kuppe Lab fosters interdisciplinary synergy, driving forward research initiatives targeting fibrosis, ageing, and cancer.

Victor Perez

I received my BSc in Physics at UNAM, Mexico and MSc in biophysics at TU Dresden. I did my PhD research in the group of Prof. Dr. Ernst H.K. Stelzer in Frankfurt working on the topics of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and image reconstruction. I acquired experience in industry at BASF where I developed several image analysis and image acquisition workflows to accelerate and standardize data extraction routines. I am currently part of the Schapiro Lab in Heidelberg where my aim is to establish standard analysis pipelines for highly-multiplexed images of stained tumors.

Pacôme Prompsy

I graduated from Compiegne Technological University with a degree in bioengineering and from Cranfield University, UK, with a specialization in applied bioinformatics. I joined the Vallot Lab in Institut Curie, Paris, where I worked as a computational biologist focusing on single-cell epigenetics of triple-negative breast cancer. Two years ago, I transitioned to the Guenova Lab at the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Switzerland. Here, my research focuses on spatial proteomics, specifically studying inflammatory skin diseases and cutaneous lymphoma.

Ellis Michiels

Ellis Michiels is a last year PhD researcher at the lab of Medical and Molecular Oncology at the VUB health Campus in Belgium. Her project is focused on spatial mapping of the transcriptomic subtypes in pancreatic cancer. She has developed a clinically applicable multiplex RNA panel to quantify classical and basal-like tumor cells on paraffin sections (doi: 10.1002/path.6212). Apart from her experience with patient-derived organoids, she is particularly interested in the fast-evolving spatial omics field and is determined to proceed in this research area during her professional career. Ellis strongly believes that such technologies are indispensable to stratify pancreatic cancer patients in the future, guiding treatment decision.

Akil Merchant

Akil Merchant, MD is a physician scientist whose lab studies how immune cells in the tumor microenvironment contribute to the development and progression of cancer. He is the founding director of the Spatial Molecular Profiling Shared Resource at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He uses spatial profiling to develop novel biomarkers for cancer stratification and treatment prediction.

Amy Jablonski,

Amy is a Technology and Applications Specialist at Miltenyi Biotec, Inc whose primary focus is Spatial Biology and Multiomics applications on the MACSima™ Platform. Prior to joining Miltenyi Biotec Inc., Amy was both a field application and sales specialist at GE Healthcare Life Sciences (now Cytiva) and was responsible for supporting their high and super resolution microscopes and high content platforms. Amy couples this experience with a strong biological imaging background, having received her doctorate degree in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology studying the use of fluorescent proteins in novel imaging methods.

Anders Eriksson

Anders Eriksson serves as the Lead Field Application Scientist for ChipCytometry instrumentation in Europe. In this capacity, he serves as a vital link between scientific tools and researchers, providing technical and scientific support to existing and prospective customers of CellScape. His deep interest in spatial biology and proteomics has been honed over a successful career in neuroscience, during which he worked at both the prestigious A*STAR in Singapore and Uppsala University. Anders holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Uppsala University in Sweden.

Nigel Jamieson

Nigel Jamieson is a Clinical Senior Lecturer within the Institute of Cancer Sciences and an Honorary Consultant HPB surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Glasgow when his interest in pancreatic cancer research began. He subsequently undertook a PhD funded by the Chief Scientist Office investigating gene expression signatures in pancreatic adenocarcinoma at the Beatson Institute. After completing his surgical training including observership periods at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore he spent an international fellowship year of pancreas and liver surgery in Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia where he gained significant experience in post-neoadjuvant therapy pancreatic resections as well as robotic surgery. He holds awarded a Clinician Scientist Fellowship by Cancer Research UK and upon returning to Glasgow was awarded a Lord Kelvin and Adam Smith Leadership Fellowship from the University of Glasgow.

He has contributed to over 140 peer reviewed publications and has an active role in the development and management of the Precision-Panc platform, his laboratory group focusses upon the interaction between the immune microenvironment and chemotherapy in the tumours of patients with pancreatic cancer. He has established a spatial transcriptomic facility characterising multiple malignancies, premalignant lesions, and inflammatory conditions using multiple single-cell spatial technologies. He works closely with Pancreatic Cancer UK and is part of a national group aiming to standardise care for patients with pancreatic cancer across the UK.