Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Christina Curtis, Stanford
PMWC Award Ceremony
• W.E. Moerner, Stanford
• Serge Saxonov, 10x Genomics
• Priscilla Chan, CZI
Honoree Fireside
• Chair: Christina Curtis, Stanford
• W.E. Moerner, Stanford
• Priscilla Chan, CZI
• Serge Saxonov, 10x Genomics
Unraveling Tissue Architecture with Single-Cell & Spatial Multi-Omics
• Joakim Lundeberg, SciLifeLab
• Garry P. Nolan, Stanford
• Tae Hyun Hwang, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
• Michael Angelo, Stanford
Spatial Sequencing for Next Generation Pathology
• Jeremy Schurman, Singular Genomics
Precision Profiling of Cells: Insights from Imaging-Spectral Flow Cytometry and Single-Cell Multiomics
• Aruna Ayer, BD
Single-Cell Genotype and Targeted Gene Expression Assay
• Zivjena Vucetic, Mission Bio
Tumor Evolution & Clonal Dynamics: From Models to Monitoring
• Chair: Christina Curtis, Stanford
Personal Omics at Scale: What Longitudinal Profiles Add to Early Detection
• Michael Snyder, Stanford
Multi-Omics-Driven Early Detection: Beyond Liquid Biopsy
• Ash Alizadeh, Stanford
• Alex Aravanis, Moonwalk Biosciences
• Sara Ahadi, OmicsEra
AI in Molecular Diagnostics: Integrating Multi-Omics & Clinical Data
• Chair: Marina Sirota, UCSF
• Olivier Gevaert, Stanford
• Rebecca Critchley-Thorne, Castle Biosciences
• Lihua Lei, Stanford
• Yunguan Wang, Cincinnati Children's
Speaker Profile
Biography
Dr. Curtis laboratory leverages data analytics, high-throughput molecularprofiling and experimentation to develop new ways to prevent, diagnose andtreat cancer. Her research has led to new paradigms in understanding howhuman tumors evolve and metastasize and has redefined the molecular map ofbreast cancer. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, includingthose from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, STOP Cancer, the AmericanAssociation for Cancer Research (AACR). She received the NationalInstitutes of Health Directors Pioneer Award in 2018 and was named an InVivo Rising Star in 2021. She is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy ofSciences, a Susan G. Komen Scholar, and a Chan Zuckerberg BiohubInvestigator. In 2022, she received the AACR Award for OutstandingAchievement in Basic Science. She is a scientific advisor to multipleacademic institutes, biotech and biopharma, and is a member of the AACRBoard of Directors.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Marina Sirota is a Professor and Interim Director of UCSFs Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute. Previously, she served as a Senior Research Scientist at Pfizer, focusing on precision medicine. She earned her PhD in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford University.With 20 years of experience and over 170 publications, Dr. Sirota develops computational integrative methods for diagnostics and therapeutics, specializing in womens health. Her laboratory is funded by the NIA, NLM, NIAMS, Pfizer, and the March of Dimes.A 2017 AMIA Young Investigator Award recipient, she leads the UCSF March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center and co-directs ENACT, a precision medicine center for endometriosis. Dr. Sirota also founded UCSFs AI4ALL program, which introduces high school girls to the applications of AI and machine learning in biomedicine.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Professor Joakim Lundeberg works at the Department of Gene Technology, part of the School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology, and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and has competence in molecular technology development, in the fields of spatial omics with applications in both medicine and environment. Applications cover, for example, cancer, neurology and human development. His research group has been located since May 2010 at the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab). Prof Lundeberg previously headed the National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI) platform, one of the major academic sequencing sites in Europe.Lundeberg has over 15 patent and patent applications and has established several spin-off companies based on his research.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Alex Aravanis is CEO and co-founder of Moonwalk Biosciences. PreviouslyIlluminas Chief Technology Officer and Head of ResearchProductDevelopment, he led programs that delivered tools for research and clinicalgenomics, including whole-genome sequencing, comprehensive cancerprofiling, COVID-Seq, and advanced AI for interpreting genomes, usedworldwide today.A serial entrepreneur, Aravanis co-founded GRAIL, servingas Chief Scientific Officer and Head of RD, where he directed research,development, and clinical teams to create a multi-cancer early detectiontest. Earlier at Illumina, he developed key technologies such as clinicalRNADNA assays for fixed tissues, whole-exome analysis, single-celltranscriptomics, and liquid biopsy using cell-free nucleic acids.Aravanisearned a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a Physicsminor from UC Berkeley, an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering, and an MDfrom Stanford. He holds more than 30 patents, has numerous peer-reviewedpublications, and serves on biotech Scientific Advisory Boards.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Dr. Rebecca Critchley-Thorne joined Castle Biosciences in December 2021 as Vice President, RD, Spatialomics and GI, as part of the acquisition of Cernostics Inc., where she was Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer. She led the development of the TissueCypher computational pathology platform as well as the TissueCypher Barretts Esophagus test and its supporting clinical studies. She currently oversees RD for Castles commercially available tests and pipeline activities. She completed training as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, where she focused on highly multiplexed analysis of biomarkers to understand mechanisms of immune dysfunction in various cancer types. She completed doctoral work in cancer immunotherapy at Imperial College and Cancer Research UK in London, UK, and earned a B.S. (Hons) degree in Pharmacology from the University of Sheffield, UK. Dr. Critchley-Thorne is the author of many medical and scientific publications, a principal investigator on NIH-funded research studies, and an inventor on several of Castle's patents.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Tae Hyun Hwang a national leader in the use of artificial intelligence to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment, will lead a new Molecular AI initiative within the Section of Surgical Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.He was jointly recruited by the Department of Surgery and the newly established Center for Computational Systems Biology (CCSB) at Vanderbilt University.Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming our ability to solve complex biomedical problems, said Seth Karp, MD, the H. William Scott Jr. Professor of Surgery and chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences.Dr. Hwang is uniquely capable of developing approaches that use this technology to personalize the care of surgical patients, with an initial emphasis on oncology and transplantation, Karp said.Hwang joins the Vanderbilt faculty as a professor of Surgery. He was recruited from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, where he built and led the AI in Oncology Research Program. His work focused on leveraging AI and machine learning to advance precision oncology, immuno-oncology and cellular cancer therapy.
Speaker Profile
Biography
W. E. (William Esco) Moerner, the Harry S. Mosher Professor of Chemistry and Professor by courtesy of Applied Physics, has conducted research in physical chemistry, biophysics, and the optical properties of single molecules, and is actively involved in the development of 2D and 3D super-resolution imaging for cell biology. Imaging studies include viral RNA and proteins in infected cells, protein superstructures in bacteria and mammalian cells, and studies of chromatin organization. Using powerful microscopes optimized for tracking of single objects in cells, the motions of proteins, DNA, and RNA are being measured in three dimensions in real time to understand organization, processing and binding interactions. A previous research area concerns precise analysis of photodynamics of single trapped biomolecules in solution, with applications to photosynthesis, protein-protein interactions, and transport measurements.Born on June 24, 1953 at Parks Air Force Base in Pleasanton, California, Professor Moerner was raised in San Antonio, Texas. He attended Washington University as a Langsdorf Engineering Fellow, graduating in 1975 with degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering (both B.S. with top honors), and Mathematics (A.B. summa cum laude). His doctoral research in physics at Cornell University (M.S. 1978, Ph.D. 1982) employed tunable infrared lasers to explore infrared vibrational modes of impurities in crystals. In 1982, he moved from New York to San Jose, California to join the IBM Research Division developing spectral holeburning for frequency domain optical storage and photorefractivity for dynamic hologram formation. After 13 years at IBM, Dr. Moerner accepted a position as Distinguished Professor of Physical Chemistry at UC San Diego, where he broadened his research to include biological systems and biophysics. Recruited to the Stanford Chemistry Department faculty in 1997, he served as Chair of the department from 2011 to 2014.Professor Moerners scientific contributions were recognized with the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy." One method to surpass the optical diffraction limit (PALMSTORM) uses single-molecule imaging combined with an active control mechanism to keep the concentration of emitting molecules at a very low level, followed by sequential localization to reconstruct the underlying structure. The fundamentals of this idea came from early work in the Moerner lab: optical detection and imaging of single molecules (1989) combined with blinking and switching at low temperature, as well as the discovery of optical control and blinking of single copies of green fluorescent protein at room temperature (1997). Among many other honors and awards, Professor Moerner was elected fellow of the American Physical Society, Optical Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, SPIE; and member of the National Academy of Sciences.Today, the Moerner Laboratory uses laser spectroscopy and microscopy of single molecules to probe biological processes, one molecule at a time. Primary thrusts include development and application of fluorescence microscopy far beyond the optical diffraction limit by PALMSTORM, 3D single-molecule tracking in complex cellular environments, invention and validation of methods for precise and accurate 3D optical microscopy in cells, and imaging of viral RNA and proteins during cellular infection by SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Through a variety of collaborations, these approaches are applied to explore protein and oligonucleotide localization patterns in mammalian cells and bacteria, define the organization of cell invasion proteins in parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii, and develop correlative super-resolution optical imaging with cryo-EM enhanced by suitable switchable fluorescent proteins for 77K.Please visit the Moerner Lab home page for more information.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Michael Snyder is the Stanford W. Ascherman Professor and the Director of the Stanford Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine. As a pioneer of Precision Medicine, Dr. Snyder has invented many technologies enabling the 21st century of healthcare including systems biology, RNA sequencing, and protein chip. Dr. Snyder has initiated the Big Data approach to healthcare through his work using omics to detect early-stage disease, including wearables to detect infectious diseases like COVID-19, and at-home microsampling to measure hundreds of molecules from a single drop of blood. He is the first researcher to gather petabytes of data on individuals, which is 1 million - 1 trillion times more data than the average clinician collects. He has published over 900 papers and is one of the most cited scientists. In terms of commercial success, Dr. Snyder has co-founded 17 companies (including 2 unicorns) with combined enterprise value of over $6 billion.
Talk
Personal Omics at Scale, What Longitudinal Profiles Add to Early Detection
Our present healthcare system focuses on treating people when they are ill rather than keeping them healthy. We have been using big data and remote monitoring approaches to monitor people while they are healthy to keep them that way and detect disease at its earliest moment presymptomatically.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Serge Saxonov is the co-founder and CEO of 10x Genomics, a leader in single cell and spatial biology. 10x’s mission is to accelerate the mastery of biology to advance human health. Under Serge’s leadership, 10x has delivered groundbreaking products that have transformed how researchers explore biology. These tools and technologies have been cited in more than 10,000 high-impact publications and have enabled discoveries across nearly every area of life sciences.
As a scientist, inventor and entrepreneur, Serge guided 10x from an early-stage startup through one of the fastest revenue ramps in the industry’s history to its public debut on Nasdaq (TXG), and has since led the company’s continued growth and innovation. Before 10x, he was part of the founding team at 23andme, where he pioneered the company’s core technology and product concepts, and later served as Vice President of Applications at QuantaLife, which was acquired by Bio-Rad.
Serge’s leadership and entrepreneurship have been recognized by Goldman Sachs, which named him one of its “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” in 2016, and by the San Francisco Business Times, which honored him as one of the Bay Area’s “Most Admired CEOs” in 2021. He earned his A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford University.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Priscilla Chan is the co-founder of Biohub, where she leads efforts to advance biomedical research and technology to help scientists cure, prevent, or manage all disease. As a pediatrician, her firsthand experience caring for patients has fueled her commitment to accelerating scientific discovery. Priscilla’s leadership focuses on harnessing AI, building cutting-edge research tools, and funding innovative science to unlock new insights into human biology. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University and her doctor of medicine from the University of California, San Francisco, where she also completed her pediatrics residency.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Aruna Ayer is the VP, Multiomics, InnovationScientific Affairs at BD Biosciences. She leads a multidisciplinary team responsible for an exciting portfolio of next-generation single-cell solutions including instruments, multiomic assays, reagents and informatic solutions. Her team is also responsible for managing external scientific partnerships and collaborations supporting product development and product adoption.Aruna holds a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas, Austin and bachelors in biotechnology from Anna University, India. Aruna joined BD Biosciences from Roche Sequencing Solutions, where she held various roles of increasing leadership responsibility for 7 years developing the Roche Nanopore Sequencing Technology. Aruna is a named inventor on multiple patents and has published in multiple high-impact scientific journals.
Talk
Precision Cell Profiling: Imaging, Spectral Flow Multiomics Insights
Cellular analysis is a cornerstone of discovery in immuno-oncology and drug development. Herein, we present technologies and applications that showcase high-dimensional characterization of cells, with real-time image-based spectral sorting and multiomic single-cell profiling. This demonstrates the power of combining phenotypic and molecular data to accelerate translational and clinical research.
Speaker Profile
Biography
The focus of my lab is to understand how tissue structure regulates immune tolerance in health and disease. To achieve this, we have leveraged techniques from physics, biochemistry, medicine, and pathology to develop a new framework for spatial biology that has led to the discovery of previously unknown rule sets governing the spatial organization and cellular composition of immune and stromal cells in cancer, infectious disease, and the maternal-fetal interface. In parallel, we have developed open-source algorithms that use machine learning and convolutional neural networks for low-level imaging processing, single-cell segmentation, and categorical classification of larger multicellular features automatically with human-level accuracy. This synergy between spatial proteomics, automated image analysis, and statistical modeling has permitted us to perform large, endpoint-driven studies of archival human tissue and discover previously unknown spatial programs in preinvasive, invasive, and metastatic cancers.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Dr. Zivjena Vucetic is a physician-scientist with over 15 years of experience leading medical and scientific strategy across global diagnostics and emerging technologies. She has built a career translating breakthrough science into clinical adoption, spanning oncology, infectious disease, neurodegeneration, and early detection. Zivjena has held senior leadership roles across industry most recently as CMO and SVP at Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, where she directed medical strategy and advanced biomarker programs in Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease. With both an M.D. and Ph.D., Dr. Vucetic brings deep expertise in bridging clinical research, regulatory science, and market delivery to accelerate precision medicine.
Talk
Single-Cell MRD Assessment: Advancing Beyond Standard Care
Learn how single-cell MRD delivers earlier, more accurate relapse detection than current standard methods. Using dynamic multiomic signals to reduce false-negative and false-positive results, it supports more confident AML treatment decisions. Its validated high-sensitivity performance demonstrates clear clinical value for improving patient outcomes.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Sara Ahadi, PhD is a translational scientist and data science leader specializing in multi-omics, plasma proteomics, and biomarker discovery. She has led cross-functional teams across biotech, academia, and industry collaborations to advance biomarker and precision medicine strategies in aging, neurodegeneration, and metabolic disease. Her work integrates proteomics, genomics, and AIML to uncover actionable biology and accelerate therapeutic development.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Dr. Curtis laboratory leverages data analytics, high-throughput molecularprofiling and experimentation to develop new ways to prevent, diagnose andtreat cancer. Her research has led to new paradigms in understanding howhuman tumors evolve and metastasize and has redefined the molecular map ofbreast cancer. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, includingthose from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, STOP Cancer, the AmericanAssociation for Cancer Research (AACR). She received the NationalInstitutes of Health Directors Pioneer Award in 2018 and was named an InVivo Rising Star in 2021. She is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy ofSciences, a Susan G. Komen Scholar, and a Chan Zuckerberg BiohubInvestigator. In 2022, she received the AACR Award for OutstandingAchievement in Basic Science. She is a scientific advisor to multipleacademic institutes, biotech and biopharma, and is a member of the AACRBoard of Directors.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Serge Saxonov is the co-founder and CEO of 10x Genomics, a leader in singlecell and spatial biology. 10xs mission is to accelerate the mastery ofbiology to advance human health. Under Serges leadership, 10x hasdelivered groundbreaking products that have transformed how researchersexplore biology. These tools and technologies have been cited in more than10,000 high-impact publications and have enabled discoveries across nearlyevery area of life sciences.As a scientist, inventor and entrepreneur, Serge guided 10x from anearly-stage startup through one of the fastest revenue ramps in theindustrys history to its public debut on Nasdaq (TXG), and has since ledthe companys continued growth and innovation. Before 10x, he was part ofthe founding team at 23andme, where he pioneered the companys coretechnology and product concepts, and later served as Vice President ofApplications at QuantaLife, which was acquired by Bio-Rad.Serges leadership and entrepreneurship have been recognized by GoldmanSachs, which named him one of its 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs in2016, and by the San Francisco Business Times, which honored him as one ofthe Bay Areas Most Admired CEOs in 2021. He earned his A.B. in AppliedMathematics from Harvard College and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Informaticsfrom Stanford University.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Priscilla Chan is the co-founder of Biohub, where she leads efforts to advance biomedical research and technology to help scientists cure, prevent, or manage all disease. As a pediatrician, her firsthand experience caring for patients has fueled her commitment to accelerating scientific discovery. Priscilla’s leadership focuses on harnessing AI, building cutting-edge research tools, and funding innovative science to unlock new insights into human biology. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University and her doctor of medicine from the University of California, San Francisco, where she also completed her pediatrics residency.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Marija Plodinec is a recognized industry leader and opinion leader in thephysical sciences of oncology, with a strong scientific and industrypresence in the U.S. and Europe. For over a decade, Marija has launched thedevelopment of ARTIDIS, a groundbreaking medical device leveragingnanomechanical signatures for fast and precise diagnosis and treatmentoptimization of solid tumors. As co-founder, CEO, and Board Member ofARTIDIS AG since 2017, she has led the company through significant growthmilestones. Thanks to her leadership and extensive network with key U.S.industry leaders, particularly at MD Anderson Cancer Center, ARTIDISestablished a U.S. subsidiary and a strategic alliance collaboration thathas positioned the company for rapid growth in the American market.
Speaker Profile
Biography
W. E. (William Esco) Moerner, the Harry S. Mosher Professor of Chemistryand Professor by courtesy of Applied Physics, has conducted research inphysical chemistry, biophysics, and the optical properties of singlemolecules, and is actively involved in the development of 2D and 3Dsuper-resolution imaging for cell biology. Imaging studies include viralRNA and proteins in infected cells, protein superstructures in bacteria andmammalian cells, and studies of chromatin organization. Using powerfulmicroscopes optimized for tracking of single objects in cells, the motionsof proteins, DNA, and RNA are being measured in three dimensions in realtime to understand organization, processing and binding interactions. Aprevious research area concerns precise analysis of photodynamics of singletrapped biomolecules in solution, with applications to photosynthesis,protein-protein interactions, and transport measurements.Born on June 24,1953 at Parks Air Force Base in Pleasanton, California, Professor Moernerwas raised in San Antonio, Texas. He attended Washington University as aLangsdorf Engineering Fellow, graduating in 1975 with degrees in Physicsand Electrical Engineering (both B.S. with top honors), and Mathematics(A.B. summa cum laude). His doctoral research in physics at CornellUniversity (M.S. 1978, Ph.D. 1982) employed tunable infrared lasers toexplore infrared vibrational modes of impurities in crystals. In 1982, hemoved from New York to San Jose, California to join the IBM ResearchDivision developing spectral holeburning for frequency domain opticalstorage and photorefractivity for dynamic hologram formation. After 13years at IBM, Dr. Moerner accepted a position as Distinguished Professor ofPhysical Chemistry at UC San Diego, where he broadened his research toinclude biological systems and biophysics. Recruited to the StanfordChemistry Department faculty in 1997, he served as Chair of the departmentfrom 2011 to 2014.Professor Moerners scientific contributions wererecognized with the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development ofsuper-resolved fluorescence microscopy." One method to surpass the opticaldiffraction limit (PALMSTORM) uses single-molecule imaging combined with anactive control mechanism to keep the concentration of emitting molecules ata very low level, followed by sequential localization to reconstruct theunderlying structure. The fundamentals of this idea came from early work inthe Moerner lab: optical detection and imaging of single molecules (1989)combined with blinking and switching at low temperature, as well as thediscovery of optical control and blinking of single copies of greenfluorescent protein at room temperature (1997). Among many other honors andawards, Professor Moerner was elected fellow of the American PhysicalSociety, Optical Society of America, American Association for theAdvancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, SPIE; andmember of the National Academy of Sciences.Today, the Moerner Laboratoryuses laser spectroscopy and microscopy of single molecules to probebiological processes, one molecule at a time. Primary thrusts includedevelopment and application of fluorescence microscopy far beyond theoptical diffraction limit by PALMSTORM, 3D single-molecule tracking incomplex cellular environments, invention and validation of methods forprecise and accurate 3D optical microscopy in cells, and imaging of viralRNA and proteins during cellular infection by SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Through avariety of collaborations, these approaches are applied to explore proteinand oligonucleotide localization patterns in mammalian cells and bacteria,define the organization of cell invasion proteins in parasites such asToxoplasma gondii, and develop correlative super-resolution optical imagingwith cryo-EM enhanced by suitable switchable fluorescent proteins for77K.Please visit the Moerner Lab home page for more information.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Ash completed his PhD in BiophysicsMD at Stanford in 2003 under PatBrowns mentorship. Supported by HHMINIH MSTP, he built and applied thelymphochip microarray platform to profile gene expression in DLBCL andother tumors. This work led to discovery of DLBCL subtypes and a frameworkfor cell-of-origin. Following his clinical subspecialty Hematology Oncology training, he completed his postdoctoral studies with Ron Levy Irv Weissman. His lab studies genomic biomarkers of tumors, whetherdetected through primary tissue biopsies or non-invasively using liquidbiopsies. His group has developed several methods for ctDNA detectionincluding CAPP-Seq, PhasED-Seq, and EPIC-Seq, and developed digitalcytometry methods (CIBERSORTx), applying it broadly to human cancers(PRECOG; EcoTyper). His group applies such genomic tools for earlydetection, diagnosis, and monitoring of diverse tumors. His group buildsand employ tools from functional genomics, computational biology, moleculargenetics, and disease models.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Eli Glezer co-founded Singular Genomics and led the RD and Engineering teams in the development of NGS and Spatial Sequencing technology. Today, the G4X Spatial Sequencer brings the power of high-speed in-situ sequencing to spatial biology, offering unrivaled throughput for spatial analysis of gene transcripts and proteins in real-world FFPE tissue samples.This technology is enabling next-generation pathology, revealing new biological insights in clinical studies and translational medicine.Prior to Singular, Dr. Glezer served as CTO at Meso Scale Diagnostics where he led the development of a market-leading multiplexed immunoassay technology, used today in thousands of laboratories word-wide. Eli's interdisciplinary work at the intersection of biology, chemistry, physics and engineering has resulted in a wide range of inventions, reflected in 75 issued US patents. He received his BA degrees in Physics and Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and a PhD in Applied Physics from Harvard University.
Talk
Spatial Sequencing for Next Generation Pathology
Imaging RNA and proteins in tissue with sub-cellular resolution brings new molecular-level insights to pathology. The G4X Spatial Sequencer uses NGS with 4-color, high-speed, sub-micron-resolution imaging to analyze gene transcripts and proteins in FFPE tissue sections. Processing up to 40 samplesrun (1 cm2 each), the G4X enables large-scale clinical studies for next generation pathology.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Dr. Lihua Jiang directs the Mass Spectrometry Center for Advanced Research and the Metabolic Health Center in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University. Trained in medicine with a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry, she has extensive expertise in mass-spectrometrybased high-throughput proteomics and metabolomics for biomarker discovery.She has led the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) proteomics project and created a quantitative proteome map of the human body.She has also spearheaded pioneering initiatives such as personal omics profiling and the Human Tumor Atlas proteomics project. Most recently, she developed high-throughput single-cell proteomics platforms, enabling the construction of high-fidelity virtual cell models by integrating proteomic data with cellular imaging. She envisions that the convergence of AI and omics profiling will transform the future of medicine.
Speaker Profile
Biography
I am a computational biologist specializing in single-cell and spatially resolved transcriptomics, with a focus on developing mechanistic and predictive models of cellcell communication in human disease. My group creates computational frameworks that integrate spatial transcriptomics, histology, and regulatory network inference to uncover how tissue-embedded signaling circuits drive pathogenesis. I have led the development of widely used spatial omics tools, including Sprod for denoising spatial transcriptomics, Spacia for inferring functional cellcell communication, and TPS for histology-guided tissue mapping (published across Nature Methods and EbioMedicine). A major application of my work centers on autoimmune liver diseases, where we use spatial multi-omics and systems modeling to define injury-associated signaling pathways, stromalimmune interactions, and molecular determinants of fibrosis and regeneration. My program aims to translate spatially resolved biology into mechanistic insight and therapeutic direction for immune-mediated liver disorders.
Speaker Profile
Biography
Jiwu Wang is an expert on the molecular biologist of RNA, also a well-established leader in the fields of iPSC, multitargeting nanobody, and fluorescent biomarker. He founded Allele Biotech and leads its ongoing project in producing all liver cells from autologous iPSC for bioprinting transplantable liver organs funded by ARPA-H. He also leads mitochondrial research in anti-aging and mRNA formulation for rejuvenation within the Aging Research Center at the Scintillon Institute, which he also founded and now leads. His team has purpose-built a cell therapy-dedicated GMP facility in San Diego, California, and a quality system where industry-standard iPSC production, genome editing, cell banking, expansion, differentiation, and packaging are conducted both for internal liver and pancreatic beta cell therapy programs and for outside industry partners, such as Astellas, Cellular Logistics, KPharma, through licensing and contracting.
Talk
Single-Cell Multi-Omics Characterization of iPSC-Derived Liver Tissue for Transplantation
The ultimate goal of precision medicine is to reproduce whats lost and missing in a human to restore the functions, without immune suppressors, at a cost affordable to organ-transplantation patients. This talk will show how to do so from an individuals iPSC down to the level of each cell type needed to bioprint a liver.
Speaker Profile
Biography




