10x Genomics, Inc., a global leader in single-cell and spatial biology, has announced a partnership with PharosAI, a UK-based research consortium that brings together four leading institutions, to accelerate cancer research using advanced AI and spatial biology. PharosAI will utilize the 10x Genomics Xenium spatial platform to create one of the world’s largest multimodal cancer datasets. The project is supported by £18.9 million from the UK Government’s Research Ventures Catalyst program, with additional backing from charitable organizations and industry partners. The initiative aims to produce AI-ready datasets, computational models, and analytical tools to enable earlier diagnosis, support precision therapies, and speed the discovery of new cancer treatments.
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PharosAI is a collaboration between King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and Barts Health NHS Trust. By combining clinical knowledge, academic expertise, and cutting-edge technologies, the consortium will transform archived NHS cancer samples into high-resolution datasets. These resources will be available to researchers and clinicians worldwide to power AI models for drug discovery, patient diagnosis, and improved clinical outcomes.
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Professor Anita Grigoriadis, CEO of PharosAI and Professor of Molecular and Digital Pathology at King’s College London, stated that AI has the potential to revolutionize cancer care, but progress has been slowed by fragmented and inaccessible data. She explained that PharosAI will create comprehensive, multimodal datasets paired with AI models and analytical tools using 10x Genomics’ spatial technologies. This approach will enable earlier detection, more targeted therapies, and improved patient outcomes. Grigoriadis emphasized that the collaboration unites universities, NHS Trusts, charities, and industry to build a sustainable ecosystem for innovation.
The program will initially focus on breast cancer before expanding to lung and pancreatic cancers, including thousands of clinical tissue samples. By integrating genomic, transcriptomic, imaging, and spatial biology data, and combining these with AI-driven analyses, PharosAI aims to reveal patterns in cancer biology that have remained hidden. Xenium’s high-throughput capabilities and customizable gene panels allow the consortium to generate reproducible, spatially resolved datasets critical for large-scale studies.
Serge Saxonov, CEO and Co-founder of 10x Genomics, said that turning biological insights into meaningful outcomes requires scalable, high-quality data. He noted that Xenium enables PharosAI to convert decades of archived NHS samples into robust, spatially detailed datasets, forming the foundation for faster, more precise discoveries in cancer research.
PharosAI plans to make the resulting datasets accessible to a broad community of researchers while ensuring security and compliance. Running through 2027, this ambitious initiative positions the UK as a leader in AI-driven cancer research and establishes a collaborative ecosystem for advancing precision medicine and breakthrough therapies.
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