Talk details 

• Date: 1 February 2026
• 1:00 p.m. (ET)
• Location: Live on Zoom (register here)

Talk abstract

From the speaker:

“Although the genome is often called the blueprint of an organism, it is perhaps more accurate to describe it as a parts list composed of the various genes that may or may not be used in the different cell types of a multicellular organism. Although nearly every cell in the body has essentially the same genome, each cell type makes different use of that genome and expresses a subset of all possible genes. This has motivated efforts to characterize the molecular composition of various cell types within humans and multiple model organisms, both by transcriptional and proteomic approaches. We used single cell transcriptomics to create a human reference atlas comprising more than one million cells from 24 different tissues and organs, many from the same donor. This atlas enabled molecular characterization of more than 400 cell types, their distribution across tissues, and tissue-specific variation in gene expression, and provides an experimental basis to understand the cell type diversity which can be generated from a single genome.”

Presenter

Steve Quake is the Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and professor of applied physics at Stanford University. He joined Stanford in 2005, where he helped found and lead the university’s bioengineering department as it expanded to nearly two dozen faculty members. From 2006 to 2016, he also served as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Quake’s research sits at the intersection of biology, physics, and technology development. He has invented a range of measurement tools for biology, including DNA sequencing technologies that have enabled rapid analysis of the human genome and microfluidic automation methods that allow scientists to isolate individual cells and analyze their genetic information efficiently. He previously served as Head of Science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), overseeing scientific strategy across CZI’s research programs, technology teams, the CZ Biohub Network, and the Chan Zuckerberg Institute for Advanced Biological Imaging.