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Singleron Biotechnologies supports new £20 million MRC Hub as a technology partner, bringing single cell technology and AI to next-generation medicine development

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Cambridge, UK — August 2026

Singleron Biotechnologies is proud to support the newly announced UK Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub (the Hub), a £20 million initiative funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and led by the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (CSCI). The Hub will transform how new medicines are developed and tested, using advanced human stem cell-derived models and artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce traditional animal testing.

The Hub will develop and validate advanced human in vitro models, including organoids and other stem cell-derived systems, that can retain the unique biological characteristics of individual patients. Combined with AI-powered computational approaches and bioengineering, these models are designed to give researchers a more accurate and predictive picture of human disease before any treatment reaches patients, reducing reliance on animal models in the process.

The Hub is directed by Professor Matthias Zilbauer and co-directed by Professor Bertie Göttgens, both from the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. It brings together expertise from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and a wide network of academic, clinical, pharma, and other industry partners across the UK.

Singleron is contributing as a technology partner, providing single cell profiling capabilities to help characterise these advanced human models with the depth and resolution that translational research demands.

Single cell technology plays a foundational role in this process. By capturing gene expression at the resolution of individual cells, researchers can map the full diversity of cell types, states, and responses present in a given tissue model, a level of detail that is lost in traditional bulk analysis. This high-resolution data is precisely what AI models need to learn how human cells behave and respond to treatment, making single cell profiling a critical input for building and validating predictive models such as the AI Virtual Cell (AIVC).

Besides transcriptomics, multi-omic single cell technologies capture multiple layers of molecular information from the same cell, allowing researchers to go beyond standard single cell sequencing. Singleron’s expertise in single cell multi-omics makes it a key partner in generating the multidimensional data that AIVC models depend on to become genuinely predictive of human biology and drug response. 

Singleron’s involvement in the Hub reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to advancing Precision Medicine 2.0, bringing more human-relevant, data-driven approaches to drug discovery and disease research worldwide. 

The UK Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub represents a significant step toward reducing reliance on animal testing across the pharmaceutical and biomedical research sectors, while accelerating the pace at which promising treatments can move from the laboratory to the clinic.

Further coverage of the announcement is available from the University of Cambridge, The Guardian, the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, and Business Weekly.

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