معرفی
Dr. Stephen Sansom serves as Associate Professor and Group Leader of the Computational and Single Cell Genomics Group at the University of Oxford's Kennedy Institute. His work bridges computational biology with immunology to decode inflammatory disease mechanisms through advanced genomic approaches.
His academic foundation includes a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee (2001) followed by a DPhil in Developmental Biology through the Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD programme at the University of Cambridge. Postdoctoral research at the Gurdon Institute with Dr. Rick Livesey established his expertise in genomic analysis of neural development.
Dr. Sansom's research centers on computational genomics of immune processes, particularly central tolerance mechanisms and inflammatory disorders. His group pioneers single-cell genomic methodologies to dissect cellular heterogeneity in conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and atherosclerosis. Key innovations include developing frameworks for analyzing promiscuous gene expression in thymic epithelia and deconvoluting monocyte responses in immune-mediated diseases through collaborative projects with experimental immunologists.
Analysis of his recent publications reveals dominant themes in macrophage biology during atherosclerosis progression, B/T cell dynamics in viral infections (including influenza and COVID-19), and stromal cell contributions to joint destruction in arthritis. His work consistently identifies novel cellular states and molecular networks driving pathogenesis, with strong emphasis on translational relevance for therapeutic targeting.
Supported initially by an MRC Career Development Fellowship in Chris Ponting's CGAT program, Dr. Sansom now directs the Computational Genomics team he established at the Kennedy Institute in 2014. His collaborative model integrates computational expertise with wet-lab immunology across multiple Oxford research groups.
The Sansom Group operates as the Computational and Single Cell Genomics Group within the Kennedy Institute, maintaining specialized pipelines for high-dimensional genomic data analysis. Current efforts focus on scaling single-cell multi-omics approaches to track immune cell evolution during chronic inflammation and infection.