Jérôme Nicod is the Director of Genome Technologies for the Pathogen Program at EIT. In his role, Jérôme leads the development and implementation of advanced genomic technologies to support the Program’s mission of transforming pathogen diagnostics and surveillance on a global scale. His work focuses on scaling whole genome sequencing (WGS)pipelines, integrating laboratory automation, and evaluating novel sequencing technologies to enable high-throughput, real-world applications in metagenomics and antimicrobial resistance profiling.

Before joining EIT, Jérôme was Head of the Genomics Science Technology Platform at the FrancisCrick Institute. There, he led a team of scientists delivering genomics services and was instrumental in introducing long-read sequencing and spatial transcriptomics capabilities. He played a key role in the institute’s COVID-19 response, leading the automation of testing workflows that processed over 600,000 samples. Prior to the Crick, he held research and managerial roles at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, working on the language-related gene FOXP2 and the genetics of complex traits.

Jérôme studied pharmacy at the University of Lausanne and completed a PhD in pharmacology at the University of Bern. He has authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications, co-founded the London Genomics Network, and has been a key collaborator with academic and commercial partners in developing next-generation genomic solutions.

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