Prof. Holger Heyn (PhD)
Main expertise:
Single-cell genomics
Spatial genomics
Translational research
Immuno-oncology
Prof. Heyn is an expert in Genomics with a background in single-cell and spatial sequencing technologies as well as genome-wide genomics profiling approaches. His research activities focus on translational and clinical science with a strong focus on immune-based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Prof. Heyn is Group Leader of the Single Cell Genomics group at the Spanish National Center for Genomic Analysis (CNAG) joins biotechnology with computational biology to establish best practices in single-cell and spatial research. The group combines translational research and Research & Development activities with a focus on immuno-oncology and immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Prof. Heyn is a member of the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) project, with projects to generate atlases of human immune cells, the kidney and the pancreas. He is co-chairing the Spatial Taskforce, the Industry Partnership Program (IPP) and the Standards and Technology working group (STWG) to scout, benchmark and scale emerging technologies for the HCA and Genomics community.
As co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Omniscope, he brings high-resolution profiling technologies to clinical application, developing advanced diagnostics and therapeutics tools. Omniscope is a Systems Immunology company providing solutions to detect diseases for interceptive medicine and to develop next-generation cell therapies. Reading the immune system as a universal sensor of diseases, Omniscope’s technologies will enable modern medicine and disrupt current practices in health care.
Publications:
STAMP: Single-cell transcriptomics analysis and multimodal profiling through imaging.
Cell 2025
Spatiotemporal T-cell tracking for personalized T-cell receptor T-cell therapy designs in childhood cancer. Annals of Oncology 2025
An atlas of cells in the human tonsil. Immunity 2024
Systematic benchmarking of single-cell ATAC-sequencing protocols.
Nature Biotechnology 2023
Benchmarking Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Protocols for Cell Atlas Projects.
Nature Biotechnology 2020
Conflict of Interest:
Prof. Heyn is founder of Codex Insights, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Omniscope, a Scientific Advisory Board member at Bruker/Nanostring and Mirxes, a consultant for Moderna and Singularity, and has received honoraria from Genentech.
Main expertise:
Sequencing technology
Functional genomics
Population genomics
Genome editing
Computational Biology
Prof. Lappalainen is a leader in human functional genomics with a background in systems genetics and the integration of large-scale human population data with CRISPR-based experimental perturbations. Her research focuses on developing advanced computational methods to map genetic effects on molecular traits, and extract insights from multi-omic data both from human populations and from single-cell data. The ultimate goal of her research is to uncover functional genetic architecture of human disease and translate these findings into understanding of molecular processes underlying disease risk.
As Director of SciLifeLab's National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI) in Sweden, she is a key driver of the national genomics technology and applications strategy, overseeing a major genomics infrastructure with many partners nationally and internationally. Her research group is based both in KTH Royal Institute of Technology and SciLifeLab in Stockholm, Sweden and at the New York Genome Center.
Prof. Lappalainen has held leadership and key contributing roles in major research consortia, such as the GTEx and GEUVADIS Consortia, championing the creation of essential, shared, open-access data resources for the scientific community. Via her roles in national and international research community initatives, she has been part of shaping the vision for human genetics and genomics. Prof. Lappalainen serves as an advisor to multiple institutes, programs and companies in the fields of genomics and biotechnology.
Publications:
Multiset correlation and factor analysis enables exploration of multi-omic data.
Cell Genomics 2023
Discovery of target genes and pathways of blood trait loci using pooled CRISPR screens
and single cell RNA sequencing. Science 2023
Transcriptome variation in human tissues revealed by long-read sequencing.
Nature 2022
The GTEx Consortium atlas of genetic regulatory effects across human tissues.
Science 2021
Cell type specific genetic regulation of gene expression across human tissues.
Science 2021
Conflict of Interest:
Tuuli Lappalainen is a scientific advisor and has equity in Variant Bio and has received speaker honoraria from Abbvie and Merck.
Main expertise:
Spatial Genomics
Liquid biopsy
Immuno-oncology
Translational research
Prof. Kulasinghe has pioneered spatial transcriptomics, proteomics, and interactomics in the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to world-first studies in lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and tissue atlasing studies of infectious diseases across pandemics. His research aims to understand the underlying pathobiology by using integrative multi-omics approaches.
He is the Founding Scientific Director of the Queensland Spatial Biology Centre (QSBC) at the Wesley Research Institute and leads the Clinical-oMx Lab at the Frazer Institute, University of Queensland.
Prof. Kulasinghe is supported by the MRFF, NHMRC, US DoD, Cancer Australia, Cure Cancer and numerous hospital and philanthropic organisations.
Publications:
Enhancing Immunotherapy Outcomes: Spatial Multi-Omics Models for Non-Small Cell
Lung Cancer. Nature Genetics.
Profiling of lung SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus infection dissects virus-specific host responses and gene signatures. European Respiratory Journal
Mapping the spatial proteome of head and neck tumors: key immune mediators and metabolic determinants in the tumor microenvironment. GEN Biotechnology
Spatial insights into immunotherapy response in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by multiplexed tissue imaging. Journal of Translational Medicine. 2024
Response-Adapted Surgical and Radiotherapy DeEscalation in Resectable Cutaneous Squamous Cell Cancer Using Pembrolizumab: The De-Squamate Study. Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Conflict of Interest:
Arutha Kulasinghe is on the Scientific Advisory Board for Omapix Solutions, Predxbio, Molecular Instruments and Visiopharm.
Main expertise:
Single-cell genomics
Spatial genomics
Multiomics
Cancer
Dr. Plummer is an expert in Genomics with a background in single-cell and spatial omics, sequencing-based assays, and multiomic approaches to disease pathogenesis. Her research activities integrate laboratory innovation with computational biology, with a strong emphasis on translational applications in cancer genetics and biomarker discovery.
Prior to directing the Center for Spatial Omics at St. Jude, she served as Co-Director of the Cedars-Sinai Genomics Core, which specialized in a full range of sequencing platforms and genomics, epigenomics, single-cell, and multi-omic assays. Her team led COVID efforts and discovered the first COVID variant in the US. Building on this experience, her group develops and applies novel experimental and computational methods, using gene editing and drug screening approaches to identify biomarkers that inform both diagnostics and therapeutics.
Beyond her academic accomplishments, Dr Plummer is active in international genomics consortia, contributing to community-wide efforts in technology development and best practices for single-cell and spatial research. Dr. Plummer is co-founder of GESTALT, a global spatial omics community, and holds patents for single-cell methodologies and computational pipeline portals that expand access to advanced genomics tools. She leads collaborative initiatives with biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners to accelerate the development of next-generation sequencing and spatial technologies for precision medicine. Through these efforts, she advances community standards in single-cell and spatial research while translating discoveries into clinical impact.
Publications:
STAMP: Single-cell transcriptomics analysis and multimodal profiling through imaging.
Cell 2025
Integrative multi-omics analyses to identify the genetic and functional mechanisms underlying ovarian cancer risk regions. American Journal of Human Genetics 2024
Introducing the Global Alliance for Spatial Technologies (GESTALT).
Nature Genetics 2025
A machine learning one-class logistic regression model to predict stemness for single cell transcriptomics and spatial omics. BMC Genomics 2023
Emergence of Novel SARS-Cov2 variant in Southern California. JAMA 2021
Conflict of Interest:
No conflict of interest.
Main expertise:
Sequencing Technology
Single-cell genomics
Computational Biology
Bioinformatics
Prof. Ziegenhain is biotechnologist focusing on emerging single-cell sequencing technologies. He has developed several single-cell methods (e.g. Smart-seq3) and related computational tools to study transcriptional processes in human cells at population scale.
He is a Group leader at the Karolinska Institutet (KI) with research topics ranging from technology development in both experimental multi-omic assays and computational/statistical frameworks to biomedical questions. His team is investigating transcriptional responses and alternative splicing patterns in cancers and interacting immune cells.
Christoph is also co-founder and CEO of Xpress Genomics; a sequencing technology company committed to providing highest quality single-cell RNA sequencing tools built upon discoveries made in collaboration with Prof. Sandberg (KI). Xpress Genomics is a disruptive company in the NGS service provider space, delivering cutting-edge technologies to researchers at high scale.
Publications:
Scalable single-cell RNA sequencing from full transcripts with Smart-seq3xpress.
Nature Biotechnology 2022.
BAMboozle removes genetic variation from human sequence data for open data sharing.
Nature Communications 2021
Single-cell RNA counting at allele and isoform resolution using Smart-seq3.
Nature Biotechnology 2020.
Comparative analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing methods.
Molecular Cell 2017
Characterization of rare, dormant, and therapy-resistant cells in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer Cell 2016
Conflict of Interest:
Christoph Ziegenhain is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Xpress Genomics AB.