Sarah Teichmann receives the FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award 2023
The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) today (9 February) announce Dr Sarah Teichmann as the recipient of the FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award 2023.
The FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award recognises a female scientist for major achievements in the life sciences made in Europe in the last five years and for being an inspiring role model for women in science. Sarah receives it for her outstanding contributions in three scientific areas: protein assemblies, regulation of gene expression and, most recently, single-cell phenotyping including mapping of immune cells.
“I was incredibly excited when I heard the news – this award is truly an honour! I have been involved with EMBO and FEBS in different capacities for many years and have always tried to advocate for increasing inclusion in science. I would like to thank everyone in my group past and present, as well as my collaborators and colleagues, for their support and encouragement over the years.”
Dr Sarah Teichmann, Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and Director of Research at the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge
“In every aspect, Sarah Teichmann is a phenomenon. She has inspired a multitude of scientists and had a tremendous impact on science and society through her spectacular, bold and groundbreaking research.”
Madan Babu, from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, USA, who was Dr Sarah Teichmann’s first PhD student
“I am delighted that Sarah Teichmann is receiving this award. I have had the pleasure of collaborating with her on the Human Cell Atlas, so I have first hand experience of her remarkable talents.”
Dr Fiona Watt, EMBO Director
Sarah co-founded and co-leads the international Human Cell Atlas (HCA), an initiative of over 2,600 scientists from 86 countries that aims to create cellular reference maps of all human cells, as a basis for both understanding health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. Since 2018, her group has published many cell atlas studies on different organs and systems including the placenta/decidua, immune system, skin, heart, lung, thymus, intestinal tract and liver, and has applied the comprehensive maps to gain new insights into health and disease.
“Through the Human Cell Atlas, Sarah Teichmann has taken a leading role in driving the field of single-cell genomics forwards, getting researchers across the globe to collaborate, making sure that the data are shared widely, and ensuring ethical and equitable results arise from it. The project as a whole is notable for its representation of women. It also seeks to be globally representative, with the recent establishment of HCA Africa and Latin America as fantastic examples of this.”
Dr Susanne Mandrup, from the University of Southern Denmark, and co-ordinator of the HCA Adipose Biological Network
Sarah has also advocated for implementing policies to support women and parents, as well as researchers from diverse backgrounds in science, and for creating a better research culture for all. In 2022, Sarah and her colleagues Muzlifah Haniffa and Jasmin Fisher published a commentary with policy proposals to promote inclusion in academia. Throughout her career, she has supervised more than 65 postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. Sarah has supported several mentees in achieving scientific independence who have gone on to become group leaders in institutions across Europe and beyond.
The FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award, consisting of 10,000 euros and a bronze statuette, will be presented to Sarah at the 47th FEBS Congress in Tours, France, where she will give the award lecture on 9 July 2023.
More information
The original announcement by EMBO and FEBS is available at: https://www.embo.org/press-releases/sarah-teichmann-receives-the-febs–embo-women-in-science-award-2023/
Biosketch
Sarah Teichmann is a systems and genome biologist who heads the Cellular Genetics programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK. She did her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, was a Beit Memorial Fellow at University College London and returned to the LMB to start her own group in 2001. In 2013, Sarah moved to the Wellcome Genome Campus to take up a joint appointment between EMBL-EBI and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. She has been Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute since 2016 and is also director of research at the Department of Physics of the University of Cambridge.
Sarah’s research group develops and applies “cell atlas” technologies to map human tissue architecture in order to understand health and disease. In 2016, Sarah co-founded the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) consortium, which she continues to co-lead. The HCA aims to create comprehensive reference maps of all human cells and now includes thousands of members from across the world. Amongst her honours, Sarah is an elected EMBO Member, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Fellow of the Royal Society. She received the EMBO Gold Medal in 2015 and is a former EMBO Young Investigator.
About the FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award
The Women in Science Award is a joint initiative of FEBS and EMBO. It recognizes and highlights major contributions by female scientists working in Europe to life sciences research in the past five years. The awardee receives a prize of 10,000 euros as well as a bronze statuette and gives a plenary lecture at the FEBS Congress.
Nominations for the FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award 2024 close on 15 October 2023.
For more information:
www.embo.org/the-embo-communities/febsembo-women-in-science-awardees/
www.febs.org/our-activities/awards/febs-embo-women-in-science-award
About FEBS
The Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) is one of Europe’s largest organizations in the molecular life sciences, with over 30,000 members across 39 biochemistry and molecular biology societies (its ‘Constituent Societies’) in different countries of Europe and neighbouring regions. As a grass-roots organization FEBS thereby provides a voice to a large part of the academic research and teaching community in Europe and beyond.
As a charitable academic organization, FEBS promotes and supports biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, molecular biophysics and related research areas through its journals, congress, advanced courses, fellowships and other initiatives. There is an emphasis in many programmes on scientific exchange and cooperation between scientists working in different countries, and on promotion of the training of early-career scientists. For more information: www.febs.org
About EMBO
EMBO is an organization of more than 1,900 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe and beyond. The goals of the organization are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information and help build a research environment where scientists can achieve their best work.
EMBO helps young scientists to advance their research, promote their international visibility and ensure their mobility. Courses, workshops, conferences and scientific journals disseminate the latest research and offer training in techniques to maintain high standards of excellence in research practice. EMBO helps to shape science and research policy by seeking input and feedback from our community and by following closely the trends in science in Europe. For more information: www.embo.org
