What We Accomplished in 2024

We united as a community, committed to fostering global collaboration and unlocking possibilities that will transform research and clinical care on a worldwide scale. Our efforts focused on creating innovative resources, sharing knowledge, and advancing bioinformatics, annotation, and data integrity frameworks.

We are always looking for new members and collaborators, click here to find out how you can contribute!

First Six Months Highlights

1.  Grant Application: Submitted a US$3.2M NIH U01 grant under the RFA "Bioengineering Partnerships with Industry".

• Focused on supporting bioinformatics, annotation, and ontology initiatives.
• RFA extended for submissions in 2025-2027, providing additional opportunities.
• Actively exploring additional funding opportunities – we welcome suggestions and collaborations for relevant grants, partnerships, or sponsorships. If you have any suggestions, please email admin@soulcap.org.
• Grant reviews are expected in March.

2.  Community Engagement: Successfully presented SOULCAP at multiple prestigious venues.

• Made key presentations at ICCS and NIH/NIST.
• Expanded awareness of our mission and achievements to broader audiences.

3.  Technical Progress: The Annotation Working Group initiated crucial work on defining necessary marker combinations for identifying canonical cell populations.

Organizational Plans for 2025 and Beyond

Our focus is on globalizing our efforts and securing support from international, regional, and national regulatory bodies. Our plans:

SOULCAP @ CYTO 2025

1.  Global Health Plenary talk June 3, 2025, 15:30 (Mile High Ballroom 2A): "SOULCAP: Global Standardization of Immune Cell Population Identification and Semantic Annotation".

2.  Poster presentation June 2&3, 2025, 17:00 (Bluebird Ballroom), (potential talk announcement in February).

3.  Workshop: "Automating Immune Cell Annotation".

4.  Community Building:

• SOULCAP will be carrying lanyard badges for visibility and community identification.
• There will be dedicated in-person gathering and networking space (details forthcoming) for community members to connect and collaborate.

Key Events and Strategic Initiatives

1.   Regulatory Engagement:

• SOULCAP’s NIH/NIST Meeting presentation has been scheduled for
  March 26-27, 2025.
• Planned engagement with the FDA, Notified Bodies, MHRA, and other
  regulators.
• SOULCAP will form an advisory committee to strengthen regulatory
  alignment.

2.  Organizational Development:

• Transition to Not-For-Profit status.
• Formalization of structure, governance, and operational framework.
• Establishment of a sustainable foundation for future growth.

Recognition and Acknowledgments 

A Huge Thank You To:

• Kelly Lundsten (FluoroFinder) – the driving force behind the marker standardization efforts. Your leadership is the backbone of this initiative!
• Goce Bogdanoski (BMS) – the mastermind behind Not-For-Profit incorporation and project management. You’ve kept us on track every step of the way.
• Jessica Houston (New Mexico State University), Kelly Lundsten, Alexander Diehl (University at Buffalo), Holden Maecker (Stanford), and Richard Scheuermann (NIH) – your teamwork on the U01 grant submission has been nothing short of inspiring!

Annotation Cell Type Working Group Leads:

• Melissa Mathieu (Turnstone Biologics)
• Connor Mahaney (University of Cincinnati College of Medicine)
• Anna Brooks (Liggins Institute)
• Ryan Duggan (Abbvie)
• Amrutesh Puranik (Bespoke MultiOmics Consultants) – and extra kudos for your amazing work on the SOULCAP poster!

Our Incredible Contributing Team Members:

• Chris Marco Nana Mbianda (University of Yaounde)
• Lola Martinez (Spanish National Cancer Research Center)
• Luis A. Mendez (Merck)
• Kamila Czechowska (Metafora Biosystems)
• Rasha Msallam (NextGen of Immunology Consultancy)
• Everett Tate (University of Chicago)
• Sarah Bonte (Ghent University)
• Ariyo Shahin-Jafari
• Kyrillos Farag (Clade Therapeutics)
• Neharika Jain (Tufts University)

Key Contributors Who Made It All Happen:

• Alice Yue – for seamlessly managing our digital infrastructure with such finesse.
• Kamila Czechowska – for keeping us all on schedule with flawless timeline
  management.
• Jessica Houston – for leading the Advisory Board with unwavering dedication.

Big shoutout to all the amazing organizations and individuals behind SOULCAP!
Your passion for making waves in our communities fuels our success – you’re the real MVPs!

Ryan Brinkman
ryan.brinkman@dotmatics.com