Understanding Biology at the Cellular Level with Spatial Omics
Traditional omics approaches like genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics generate a vast amount of data, yet they provide little information about where biological processes are taking place within complex tissues. Spatial omics is an emerging field that aims to map biological information, like genes and proteins, to specific locations in tissues and cells at single-cell resolution. By understanding biology at the microscopic scale, spatial omics is improving our knowledge of healthy and diseased states.
Technologies Enable Spatial Mapping
Advancements in microscopies, imaging technologies and genomic assays have enabled researchers to visualize and molecularly profile biological systems with high spatial resolution. Technologies like multiplexed fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) allow detecting the presence and location of specific biomolecules in fixed tissue sections. More recent techniques like spatial transcriptomics utilize microarrays or sequential barcoding to interrogate the spatial expression of thousands of genes across tissues. These techniques provide a spatial context to molecular profiling that was previously missing from traditional “omics.”
Understanding Cell Types and Organ Functions
By mapping gene expression patterns to distinct cell types and locations, spatial omics is enhancing our understanding of tissue structures and organ function. For example, research using spatial transcriptomics on mouse and human brain tissues has revealed new insights into the diverse cell types that comprise the central nervous system and their spatial organization. Similar research applied to other organs like the lung, liver and kidney is mapping cell type distributions, cell-cell interactions, and cell specialization across tissues. This information is critical for physiology and offers novel perspectives on disease processes that disturb normal tissue architectures.
Revealing Disease Mechanisms
The ability to profile both molecular changes and spatial distributions together has made spatial omics a powerful approach for investigating disease pathogenesis. Recent studies mapping gene expression across cancer tissues, for instance, have uncovered distinct molecular subtypes and revealed patterns of cancer evolution and metastasis. In neurodegenerative diseases, spatial techniques are providing new insights into how protein aggregation spreads between anatomically connected regions over time. By visualizing molecular changes within pathological contexts, spatial omics holds promise for discovering disease biomarkers and furthering our mechanistic understanding of numerous illnesses.
Challenges & Future Outlook
While spatial omics holds great potential, challenges remain around data analysis, integration and reproducibility. The large and multi-dimensional datasets produced require sophisticated bioinformatics approaches. Integrating spatial data with other “omics” measurements like genomics and proteomics also presents analytical difficulties. Standardization across platforms and laboratories has yet to be fully established as well. Looking ahead, developments addressing these challenges could further boost this field. Researchers also hope to increase the scale and resolution of profiling, eventually attaining a truly comprehensive overview of spatial molecular architectures in healthy and diseased states down to the single-cell level. With continued innovation, spatial omics is primed to reveal new biological insights and drive novel approaches to diagnosis and treatment.
By mapping where biological molecules are located within tissues and cells, spatial omics is providing crucial context that was missing from traditional high-throughput techniques. This emerging field is enhancing our understanding of tissue structures, organ function and disease pathogenesis across numerous biological systems. While challenges remain, spatial omics holds great promise for advancing biomedicine by revealing new perspectives on health and disease at the microscopic scale through multidimensional molecular mapping. With future progress, this approach may uncover novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers with applications for diagnostics and precision medicine.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it