Stephen Quake, Ph.D.
Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics
Stanford University
Seminar Information
Imagine having a complete map of every type of cell in your body—knowing not just what each cell looks like, but what genes it uses, what functions it performs, and how it communicates with its neighbors. This vision is becoming reality through ambitious cell atlas projects, with the Tabula Sapiens standing as one of the most comprehensive maps of human cells ever created. In this talk, I will take you on a journey from the traditional way we’ve studied human biology—looking at bulk tissues like examining a smoothie to guess its ingredients—to the revolutionary single-cell approach that lets us examine each “ingredient” individually.
Stephen Quake is the Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Stanford University. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to science and is one of only two dozen scientists elected to all three National Academies.
Previously he was the Head of Science at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (2022-2025), founding co-president of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (2016-2022), Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2006-2016), and Professor at the California Institute of Technology (1996-2005).