Sarah Amalia Teichmann (born 15 April 1975) is a German scientist, the former head of cellular genetics at the

Wellcome Sanger Institute The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit organisation, non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is l ...

and a visiting research group leader at the

European Bioinformatics Institute The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) is an intergovernmental organization (IGO) which, as part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) family, focuses on research and services in bioinformatics. It is located on the Wel ...

(EMBL-EBI). She serves as director of research (equivalent to Professor) in the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

, Professor at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, and is a senior

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

Education

Teichmann was educated at the European School, Karlsruhe in Germany from 1981 to 1993 where she completed the

European Baccalaureate The European Baccalaureate (or EB) is a bilingual educational diploma, which certifies the completion of secondary studies in a European School or Accredited European School by the Board of Governors of the intergovernmental organisation, "The ...

in 1993. Teichmann went on to study the Natural Sciences Tripos at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

and was awarded a first class

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1996. In 1999, she completed her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

supervised by Cyrus Chothia at the

Laboratory of Molecular Biology The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical r ...

(LMB) on genome evolution.

Career and research

Following her PhD, Teichmann did

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

supervised by Janet Thornton at University College London and funded by the Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research. From 2001-2012, she was a Medical Research Council (MRC) Programme Leader, studying patterns in protein interactions and transcriptional regulatory networks. In 2013 Teichmann was appointed a joint position at the

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit organisation, non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is l ...

and the

(EMBL-EBI). From 2005 to 2015 she served as a teaching fellow and director of studies at

. Since 2016 Teichmann has served as the head of Cellular Genetics at the

and a visiting research group leader at the EBI. Teichmann's research investigates

gene expression Gene expression is the process (including its Regulation of gene expression, regulation) by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, proteins or non-coding RNA, ...

and

protein complex A protein complex or multiprotein complex is a group of two or more associated polypeptide chains. Protein complexes are distinct from multidomain enzymes, in which multiple active site, catalytic domains are found in a single polypeptide chain. ...

assembly using both

wet laboratory A wet lab, or experimental lab, is a type of laboratory where it is necessary to handle various types of chemicals and potential "wet" hazards, so the room has to be carefully designed, constructed, and controlled to avoid spillage and contaminatio ...

and

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of techniques in computer science, data analysis, mathematical modeling and Computer simulation, computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer sci ...

techniques. In particular her research group: Teichmann's research has been funded by the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

(ERC), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds science, scient ...

(BBSRC), the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

, the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 2,100 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO), the

Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...

and the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). Teichmann has supervised several PhD students to completion including Madan Babu, Varodom Charoensawan Subhajyoti De Jay Han, Sarah Kay Kummerfeld Tina Perica, and Jing Su, and several

ers who have gone on to become Principal investigators (PIs).

Awards and honours

Teichmann has won a number of awards. In 2010, she was awarded the Colworth Medal from the Biochemical Society. In 2012, Teichman was awarded the Francis Crick Medal and Lecture, membership of the

(EMBO) and the Lister Prize from the

Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, informally known as the Lister Institute, was established as a research institute (the British Institute of Preventive Medicine) in 1891, with bacteriologist Marc Armand Ruffer as its first director, ...

. She won the

Suffrage Science award The Suffrage Science award is a prize for women in science, engineering and computing founded in 2011, on the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day by the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS). There are three categories of awar ...

in 2012. In 2015 she was awarded the Michael and Kate Bárány Award for young investigators by the Biophysical Society and the EMBO Gold Medal. Teichmann was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2015. Her citation on election reads: Teichmann has also been an activist for women's careers in science through enabling scientists in families to advance their careers while working part-time. She chaired a ''Sex in Science'' debate at the Wellcome Trust on balancing family life with working in research. Teichmann was elected an ISCB Fellow in 2016 by the International Society for Computational Biology. In 2020, Teichmann was recognised on ''The Times'' 'Science Power List' for her work on the Human Cell Atlas and elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. In 2023 Teichmann was the winner of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) EMBO Women in Science Award.

Personal life

Teichmann has two daughters. Teichmann is the co-author of the children's language education novel ''Teenage Detectives'', which she wrote as a teenager together with her mother Dr. Virginia Teichmann, an English-language university lecturer in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

. In 2022, Teichmann collaborated in the production of an experimental film ''Constellations'', which was produced by her sister, artist Esther Teichmann, and visual artist Christopher Stewart as an exploration of the Human Cell Atlas. The film was funded by the

as part of the ''One Cell at a Time'' public engagement grant.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teichmann, Sarah Amalia 1975 births Living people German bioinformaticians Wellcome Trust Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of University College London Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the International Society for Computational Biology Alumni of the European Schools German women scientists Female fellows of the Royal Society