diff --git a/api/r/CellCensus/DESCRIPTION b/api/r/CellCensus/DESCRIPTION
index 2591593cb..4473e0604 100644
--- a/api/r/CellCensus/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/api/r/CellCensus/DESCRIPTION
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ Imports:
   stats,
   tiledbsoma,
   tiledb
-Suggests: 
+Suggests:
+  bit64,
   knitr,
   rmarkdown,
   testthat (>= 3.0.0),
diff --git a/api/r/CellCensus/NAMESPACE b/api/r/CellCensus/NAMESPACE
index c266b2d32..803d4ee44 100644
--- a/api/r/CellCensus/NAMESPACE
+++ b/api/r/CellCensus/NAMESPACE
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ export(download_source_h5ad)
 export(get_census_version_description)
 export(get_census_version_directory)
 export(get_presence_matrix)
+export(get_seurat)
 export(get_source_h5ad_uri)
 export(open_soma)
 importFrom(aws.s3,save_object)
@@ -13,4 +14,5 @@ importFrom(jsonlite,fromJSON)
 importFrom(methods,is)
 importFrom(stats,setNames)
 importFrom(tiledbsoma,SOMACollection)
+importFrom(tiledbsoma,SOMAExperimentAxisQuery)
 importFrom(tiledbsoma,SOMATileDBContext)
diff --git a/api/r/CellCensus/R/get_helpers.R b/api/r/CellCensus/R/get_helpers.R
index b0e86b738..225fda2ff 100644
--- a/api/r/CellCensus/R/get_helpers.R
+++ b/api/r/CellCensus/R/get_helpers.R
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #' Read the feature dataset presence matrix.
 #'
-#' @param census The census SOMACollection from which to read the presence matrix.
+#' @param census The census object, usually returned by `CellCensus::open_soma()`.
 #' @param organism The organism to query, usually one of `Homo sapiens` or `Mus musculus`
 #' @param measurement_name The measurement object to query. Defaults to `RNA`.
 #'
@@ -15,6 +15,46 @@ get_presence_matrix <- function(census, organism, measurement_name = "RNA") {
   return(presence$read_sparse_matrix())
 }
 
+#' Convenience wrapper around `SOMAExperimentAxisQuery`, to build and execute a
+#' query, and return it as a `Seurat` object.
+#'
+#' @param census The census object, usually returned by `CellCensus::open_soma()`.
+#' @param organism The organism to query, usually one of `Homo sapiens` or `Mus musculus`
+#' @param measurement_name The measurement object to query. Defaults to `RNA`.
+#' @param X_name The `X` layer to query. Defaults to `raw`.
+#' @param obs_query A `SOMAAxisQuery` for the `obs` axis.
+#' @param obs_column_names Columns to fetch for the `obs` data frame.
+#' @param var_query A `SOMAAxisQuery` for the `var` axis.
+#' @param var_column_names Columns to fetch for the `var` data frame.
+#'
+#' @return A `Seurat` object containing the sensus slice.
+#' @importFrom tiledbsoma SOMAExperimentAxisQuery
+#' @export
+#'
+#' @examples
+get_seurat <- function(
+    census,
+    organism,
+    measurement_name = "RNA",
+    X_name = "raw",
+    obs_query = NULL,
+    obs_column_names = NULL,
+    var_query = NULL,
+    var_column_names = NULL) {
+  expt_query <- tiledbsoma::SOMAExperimentAxisQuery$new(
+    get_experiment(census, organism),
+    measurement_name,
+    obs_query = obs_query,
+    var_query = var_query
+  )
+  return(expt_query$to_seurat(
+    # TODO: should we allow selection of the seurat 'counts' or 'data' slot?
+    c(counts = X_name),
+    obs_column_names = obs_column_names,
+    var_column_names = var_column_names
+  ))
+}
+
 #' Get the SOMAExperiment for a named organism
 #'
 #' @param census The census SOMACollection.
diff --git a/api/r/CellCensus/man/get_presence_matrix.Rd b/api/r/CellCensus/man/get_presence_matrix.Rd
index d9bfef229..c7cae581d 100644
--- a/api/r/CellCensus/man/get_presence_matrix.Rd
+++ b/api/r/CellCensus/man/get_presence_matrix.Rd
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 get_presence_matrix(census, organism, measurement_name = "RNA")
 }
 \arguments{
-\item{census}{The census SOMACollection from which to read the presence matrix.}
+\item{census}{The census object, usually returned by \code{CellCensus::open_soma()}.}
 
 \item{organism}{The organism to query, usually one of \verb{Homo sapiens} or \verb{Mus musculus}}
 
diff --git a/api/r/CellCensus/man/get_seurat.Rd b/api/r/CellCensus/man/get_seurat.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a1d851aac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/r/CellCensus/man/get_seurat.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/get_helpers.R
+\name{get_seurat}
+\alias{get_seurat}
+\title{Convenience wrapper around \code{SOMAExperimentAxisQuery}, to build and execute a
+query, and return it as a \code{Seurat} object.}
+\usage{
+get_seurat(
+  census,
+  organism,
+  measurement_name = "RNA",
+  X_name = "raw",
+  obs_query = NULL,
+  obs_column_names = NULL,
+  var_query = NULL,
+  var_column_names = NULL
+)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{census}{The census object, usually returned by \code{CellCensus::open_soma()}.}
+
+\item{organism}{The organism to query, usually one of \verb{Homo sapiens} or \verb{Mus musculus}}
+
+\item{measurement_name}{The measurement object to query. Defaults to \code{RNA}.}
+
+\item{X_name}{The \code{X} layer to query. Defaults to \code{raw}.}
+
+\item{obs_query}{A \code{SOMAAxisQuery} for the \code{obs} axis.}
+
+\item{obs_column_names}{Columns to fetch for the \code{obs} data frame.}
+
+\item{var_query}{A \code{SOMAAxisQuery} for the \code{var} axis.}
+
+\item{var_column_names}{Columns to fetch for the \code{var} data frame.}
+}
+\value{
+A \code{Seurat} object containing the sensus slice.
+}
+\description{
+Convenience wrapper around \code{SOMAExperimentAxisQuery}, to build and execute a
+query, and return it as a \code{Seurat} object.
+}
diff --git a/api/r/CellCensus/tests/testthat/test-get_helpers.R b/api/r/CellCensus/tests/testthat/test-get_helpers.R
index 0d9fe3d13..99ab20f2d 100644
--- a/api/r/CellCensus/tests/testthat/test-get_helpers.R
+++ b/api/r/CellCensus/tests/testthat/test-get_helpers.R
@@ -31,3 +31,72 @@ test_that("get_presence_matrix", {
     expect_equal(max(pm), 1)
   }
 })
+
+test_that("get_seurat", {
+  seurat <- get_seurat(
+    open_soma(),
+    "Mus musculus",
+    obs_query = tiledbsoma::SOMAAxisQuery$new(value_filter = "tissue_general == 'vasculature'"),
+    obs_column_names = c("soma_joinid", "cell_type", "tissue", "tissue_general", "assay"),
+    var_query = tiledbsoma::SOMAAxisQuery$new(value_filter = "feature_name %in% c('Gm53058', '0610010K14Rik')"),
+    var_column_names = c("soma_joinid", "feature_id", "feature_name", "feature_length")
+  )
+
+  expect_s4_class(seurat, "Seurat")
+  seurat_assay <- seurat[["RNA"]]
+  expect_s4_class(seurat_assay, "Assay")
+  expect_equal(nrow(seurat_assay), 2)
+  expect_gt(ncol(seurat_assay), 0)
+  expect_setequal(seurat_assay[[]][, "feature_name"], c("0610010K14Rik", "Gm53058"))
+  expect_equal(sum(seurat[[]][, "tissue_general"] == "vasculature"), ncol(seurat_assay))
+})
+
+test_that("get_seurat coords", {
+  seurat <- get_seurat(
+    open_soma(),
+    "Mus musculus",
+    obs_query = tiledbsoma::SOMAAxisQuery$new(
+      coords = list(soma_joinid = bit64::as.integer64(0:1000))
+    ),
+    var_query = tiledbsoma::SOMAAxisQuery$new(
+      coords = list(soma_joinid = bit64::as.integer64(0:2000))
+    )
+  )
+  expect_equal(nrow(seurat[[]]), 1001) # obs dataframe
+  seurat_assay <- seurat[["RNA"]]
+  expect_equal(nrow(seurat_assay[[]]), 2001) # var dataframe
+  # NOTE: seurat assay matrix is var x obs, not obs x var
+  expect_equal(nrow(seurat_assay), 2001)
+  expect_equal(ncol(seurat_assay), 1001)
+})
+
+test_that("get_seurat allows missing obs or var filter", {
+  census <- open_soma()
+
+  obs_query <- tiledbsoma::SOMAAxisQuery$new(
+    value_filter = "tissue == 'aorta'"
+  )
+  seurat <- get_seurat(census, "Mus musculus",
+    obs_query = obs_query,
+    obs_column_names = c("soma_joinid"),
+    var_column_names = c("soma_joinid")
+  )
+  control_query <- tiledbsoma::SOMAExperimentAxisQuery$new(
+    get_experiment(census, "Mus musculus"),
+    "RNA",
+    obs_query = obs_query
+  )
+  expect_equal(ncol(seurat[["RNA"]]), control_query$n_obs)
+  expect_equal(nrow(seurat[["RNA"]]), control_query$n_vars)
+
+  seurat <- get_seurat(census, "Mus musculus",
+    obs_query = tiledbsoma::SOMAAxisQuery$new(
+      coords = list(soma_joinid = bit64::as.integer64(0:10000))
+    ),
+    var_query = tiledbsoma::SOMAAxisQuery$new(
+      value_filter = "feature_id == 'ENSMUSG00000069581'"
+    )
+  )
+  expect_equal(ncol(seurat[["RNA"]]), 10001)
+  expect_equal(nrow(seurat[["RNA"]]), 1)
+})