Where the field stands
Over the past decade, spatial biology has moved from a method-driven niche to a central pillar of data-driven life science. DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids and metabolites can now be measured in intact tissue, alongside imaging, with rapidly improving resolution and scale. Genomic methods for lineage tracing add cellular ancestry to that picture, giving a pseudotemporal frame for how tissues form and remodel. AI has opened what none of those measurements reach alone: three-dimensional, temporal and histological integration of spatial data, prediction of molecular features that were never measured, and using these data to model how cells shift, interact and organise.
The toolkit’s reach has expanded accordingly. Spatially resolved analysis now offers a common framework for human tissue, animal models and in vitro systems such as stem-cell-derived organoids. In medicine it is moving past discovery toward diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets read in their full spatiotemporal context. In planetary biology it is being adapted for plants and their microbial communities, non-model organisms, and life under environmental extremes, including spaceflight. Commercialisation of the platforms, together with open datasets and analysis pipelines, has broadened their accessibility and use across the research community.
The gap this school would fill
That expansion has created a demand the education system has not answered. The field needs scientists who can work across technology development, data science, biological application and interpretation at once, with an understanding of how a method becomes a product and how the opportunities and challenges of this field can be turned into societal benefit. At the same time the user base has grown well beyond method developers, to clinicians, diagnostic professionals, translational researchers, computational specialists and industry teams who need structured, task-oriented training rather than improvised apprenticeship.
Neither in Sweden nor internationally does a structured, comprehensive training programme in spatial biology currently exist. Early-career researchers are therefore underprepared for roles that the field is already creating. Sweden is uniquely positioned to address this gap: the cluster’s investigators have helped shape the field, while the country benefits from an established innovation ecosystem and strong industrial leadership in spatial biology. Establishing the Research School in Sweden would position the country at the forefront of spatial biology education and set a new international standard for interdisciplinary training in the field.
What we propose to build
The PhD Research School in Spatiotemporal Systems Biology is a cross-university doctoral programme and a national education hub, run across KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University, and the first of its kind on the international stage.
It is designed for two audiences at once. A doctoral cohort would take a full, multi-layered path through the field, from technology development and cross-platform experimental design to advanced data analysis, biological interpretation and translational innovation. The wider Swedish research community would have access to the same courses, masterclasses and events, so that national competence grows faster than any single cohort could carry it.
What a graduate would carry
The parts of the programme are different routes to one set of capabilities. Doctoral graduates leaving the school would be expected to have:
- A firm grasp of the conceptual and technological foundations of spatial biology.
- Insight into how biological systems are organised across space, time, and scales.
- Hands-on methodological exposure to multiple spatial technologies, rather than one platform.
- Structured bioinformatic and computational training, with an emphasis on reproducible, scalable, transferable and interpretable workflows.
- Awareness of the ethical and societal considerations in spatial biology research, including AI-based approaches.
- A working understanding of the Swedish innovation and industry landscape.
- Readiness to apply the spatial biology toolset across unfamiliar biological contexts.
- The ability to collaborate and exchange knowledge across laboratories and disciplines.
Part of a larger plan
The school is not a satellite of the cluster’s research. Doctoral projects are drawn from the research plan, and the students act as integrators between collaborating groups through jointly supervised work. Their innovation activities and industrial placements deepen the cluster’s engagement with partner companies, as set out in the innovation plan. The three parts are designed to feed one another in both directions.
Taken together, the aim is straightforward: to train people who can shape the next era of spatial biology in both academia and industry, and to keep Sweden at the forefront of the field.
Planned programme · Details subject to development