PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Magnus Rattray

Magnus Rattray is a machine-learning researcher who builds probabilistic models for biological data. At Manchester, he earns degrees in mathematics, physics and computer science, then works at Aston and holds academic posts in Manchester and Sheffield before returning to Manchester as a professor in 2012. From 2016 to 2025, he leads Manchester’s Institute for Data Science and AI; he becomes an ELLIS Fellow in 2019 and serves as co-president of the International Society for Computational Biology’s MLCSB group from 2020 to 2024. His work includes Gaussian-process models for gene-expression dynamics and CellPie, a 2025 method for spatial transcriptomics. As of October 2026, he is a professor at Manchester and Director of ELLIS Unit Manchester, holds an affiliated faculty appointment at the CRUK Manchester Institute, and leads the Generative Biology working group of an EPSRC AI hub.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 1989–1996

    Mathematics and computer science

    At the University of Manchester, he earns a first-class BSc in mathematics and physics in 1992 and a PhD in computer science in 1996.

  2. 1996–2010

    Aston and Manchester research posts

    He joins Aston University’s Neural Computing Research Group as an EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Associate in 1996. From 1998 to 2010, he works as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester.

  3. 2010–2012

    Professorships in Sheffield and Manchester

    In 2010, he becomes Professor of Statistical Bioinformatics and Machine Learning at the University of Sheffield, serving in its Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience and Department of Computer Science. He returns to the University of Manchester in 2012 as Professor of Computational and Systems Biology in its Faculty of Life Sciences.

  4. 2016–2025

    Leading Manchester’s AI institute

    From 2016 to 2025, he leads the University of Manchester Institute for Data Science and AI and directs the University’s AI strategy. He also serves as a Turing Fellow and Manchester’s Turing University Lead.

  5. 2019

    An ELLIS Health fellowship

    He becomes an ELLIS Fellow on the ELLIS Health Programme in 2019.

  6. 2020–2024

    ISCB computational biology leadership

    From 2020 to 2024, he serves as co-president of the International Society for Computational Biology’s Machine Learning for Computational Systems Biology (MLCSB) COSI.

  7. 2019–2025

    Gaussian processes and CellPie

    In 2019, he coauthors a chapter on Gaussian-process inference for gene-expression time series and single-cell data, describing methods to identify dynamic genes, infer degradation rates and model branching dynamics. In 2025, he coauthors CellPie, an unsupervised factor-discovery method that combines spatial RNA transcripts and histology image features with joint non-negative matrix factorization; the team evaluates it on three human cancer types, including a high-resolution Visium HD dataset.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor, ELLIS director and CRUK affiliate

    As of October 2026, he is Professor of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Manchester, Director of ELLIS Unit Manchester and an ELLIS Fellow; he becomes the unit’s founding Director in 2021. In 2026, he joins the CRUK Manchester Institute as affiliated faculty and leads the Generative Biology working group of the EPSRC AI hub on Generative Models.

Career

  1. Since 2026Cancer Research UKAffiliated Faculty
  2. Since 2021European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent SystemsFounding Director
  3. Since 1998University of ManchesterLecturer and Senior Lecturer, Professor of Computational and Systems Biology
  4. 2020–2024International Society for Computational BiologyCo-president
  5. 2010–2012University of SheffieldProfessor of Statistical Bioinformatics and Machine Learning
  6. 1996–1998Aston UniversityEPSRC Postdoctoral Research Associate

Education

  1. 1996University of ManchesterPhD in computer science
  2. 1992University of ManchesterBSc in mathematics and physics

From the biography.

  1. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  2. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems. We estimate how 26,439 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs, nonprofits and government research centers, with decade counts, net flows and the top paths.
  3. 5 of the 25 people with the most-cited recent papers also lead on career citationsIncludes European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems. We compare citations to 2023–2025 papers with career citations and h-index, after correcting reviewed publication-date errors: who leads, when they started and where they work.
  4. LinkedIn (1,377) and X (1,193) lead social platforms across 1,935 people shaping AIIncludes European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems. We find social, code or video accounts for 1,935 of the 7,547 people shaping AI (26%), led by LinkedIn (1,377), X (1,193) and GitHub (557).

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Magnus Rattray - Research Explorer The University of Manchester research.manchester.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Magnus Rattray | Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute cruk.manchester.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Modelling gene expression dynamics with Gaussian process inference - Research Explorer The University of Manchester research.manchester.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. CellPie: a scalable spatial transcriptomics factor discovery method via joint non-negative matrix factorization - Research Explorer The University of Manchester research.manchester.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Magnus Rattray | European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems ellis.eu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Home | Ellis Manchester ellismcr.org. Checked 20 October 2026.