Nobel Symposium 202: Creative Uses of High-Throughput Sequencing—Optical Pooled Screening

The Nobel Symposium 2025 brought together top minds in functional genomics to explore the transformative potential of Optical Pooled Screening (OPS). Held at the scenic Sånga Säby by Lake Mälaren, the event showcased how cutting-edge advances in genetic engineering, high-content imaging, and machine learning are converging to enable real-time, high-throughput phenotypic screening at single-cell resolution. The scientific program was packed with insightful presentations, blending technical depth with personal reflections on the evolution of OPS.

Speakers:

• Paul Blainey – Broad Institute
  Optical Pooled Screens in Human Cells: Origins, Impacts, and New Directions
• Long Cai – Caltech
  Challenges in Imaging-based Spatial-omics
• Michael Lawson – Singular Genomics
  Advancing Optical Pooled Screens: The Role of Microfluidics and Spatial NGS in High-Throughput Phenotyping
• Xiaowei Zhuang – Harvard
  Spatially Resolved Single-Cell Genomics and Functional Genomics
• Ulf Landegren – Uppsala University
  But what are the proteins up to?
• Magda Bienko – KI / Human Technopole
  High-Speed Image Deconvolution for Imaging-Based Spatial Omics
• Johan Elf – Uppsala University
  Approaching 3D Chromosome Dynamics Using Optical Pooled Screening
• Ola Spjuth – Uppsala University
  Towards Closed-Loop Perturbations with High-Content Imaging
• Mats Nilsson – Stockholm University
  CRISPR Guides in situ.
• Wei Ouyang – SciLifeLab
  Generative AI-Powered Live Cell Imaging and Modeling
• Bernard Schmierer – KI
  Cas12a in Focus: Redefining Pooled CRISPR Screens Across Modalities
• Carolina Wählby – Uppsala University
  Visualization and AI
• Jan Ellenberg – SciLifeLab / KI
  Quantitative Imaging of Protein Networks and Genome Structure in Single Human Cells
• Manuel Leonetti – CZ Biohub
  Spatial Proteomics: Mapping Protein Localization to Decode Cellular State
• Markus Covert – Stanford
  Experimental and Computational Tools for Understanding Cells Holistically
• Johan Paulsson – Harvard
  
• Ajmate Kaykas – Insitro
  Integrating iPSC-Based Models, Optical Pooled Screening, Genomics, and Machine Learning to Uncover Neurological Disease Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets
• Aubrey Weigel – Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  Open Data for Cellular Exploration: Sharing the CellMap Approach with a Segmentation Challenge
• Noorsher Ahmed (replacing Emma Lundberg) – KTH / Stanford
  Connecting Spatial Proteomics with Optical Pooled Screens
• Sami Farhi – Broad Institute
  Exploring Inter- and Intra-Cellular Circuits with Spatial Perturb-FISH
• Brian Brown – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  Identifying Regulators of the Tumor Microenvironment by Perturb-Map Spatial Functional Genomics
• Daniel Schraivogel – EMBL
  High-Speed Image-Enabled Cell Sorting in the (Multi)omics Era
• Jonathan Schmid-Burgk – University of Bonn
  Novel CRISPR Technologies for Deciphering Dynamic and Stochastic Processes in Human Cells
• David Feldman – Inceptive
  Leveraging High-Throughput Screening and Generative AI to Design New Therapeutic Molecules and Nanomaterials
• Eric Lübeck – Genentech
  Highly multiplexed, image-based pooled screens in primary cells and tissues with PerturbView
• Avtar Singh – Genentech
  Optical pooled screens for biological discovery
• Taka Kudo – Genentech
  Multimodal pooled genetic screens integrating transcriptomics and image-based phenotypes