Ultra-high content imaging (UCSI) for spatial biology applications

组织标本的超高含量成像(UCSI)是一个快速发展的领域，它允许在特定的组织环境中通过空间分辨率的基因表达模式来表征细胞。因此，空间生物学为单细胞核酸衍生(DNA和RNA)基因表达数据提供了有价值的补充，这些数据缺乏关于空间、单细胞环境的任何信息。尽管传统的免疫组织化学(IHC)技术适用于分析组织结构，但它受到同一标本上可检测到的生物标记物数量的限制，这就限制了细胞的空间表型。然而，这些信息对于破译基因表达如何引导需要细胞多样性的组织稳态是至关重要的。利用空间生物学技术，我们的目标是表征肿瘤/组织微环境，包括肿瘤/间质相互作用和免疫细胞景观及其空间关系，以及实体癌和心血管疾病中肿瘤/组织异质性的各个方面。因此，空间生物技术的实施从本质上补充了基础和临床生物医学研究的研究能力。它允许以可重现的方式对组织的复杂性进行全面的高含量表征。这为德国中部的生物医学研究基础设施增加了一种独特的、迄今无法访问的能力，并将对第三方资助的研究项目和马丁·路德大学(MLU)Halle-Wittenberg的研究财团产生重大影响。MLU医学院的核心设备成像(CFI)致力于为生物医学研究提供高端成像和下一代测序(NGS)技术服务。CFI空间生物学能力的实施旨在弥合NGS驱动的基因表达分析和IHC在临床和实验标本中进行的蛋白质研究之间的差距。在MLU，空间生物技术将由CFI提供，以支持各种第三方资助的项目，以及DFG资助的研究财团，即RTGs以及最近获得批准的RU。除了这些主要以癌症研究为中心的应用外，通过CFI实施UCSI技术将从根本上加强哈勒-莱比锡地区(德国中部)的研究基础设施，以支持单细胞水平的生物医学研究。

Ultra-high content imaging (UCSI) of histological specimens (spatial biology) is a rapidly evolving field allowing the characterization of cells by gene expression patterns at spatial resolution within a specific tissue context. Accordingly, spatial biology provides a valuable addition to single cell nucleic acid derived (DNA and RNA) gene expression data, which lack any information on the spatial, single cell environment. Although, suitable to analyze tissue architecture, conventional immunohistochemistry (IHC) techniques are substan-tially limited by the number of biomarkers detectable on the same specimen, which es-sentially limits the spatial phenotyping of cells. This information, however, is central to decipher how gene expression guides tissue homeostasis requiring cellular diversity. Employing spatial biology technologies, we aim to characterize the tumor/tissue mi-croenvironment including tumor/stroma interactions and immune cell landscape with their spatial relations as well as various aspects of tumor/tissue heterogeneity in human solid cancers and cardiovascular diseases, respectively. Thus, the imple-mentation of spatial biology technologies essentially complements research capabilities for basic as well as clinical biomedical research. It allows for a comprehensive high-content characterization of tissue intricacy in a reproducible manner. This adds a unique and so far non accessible capability to the biomedical research infrastructure in middle Germany and will have a great impact on third party funded research projects and research consortia at the Martin Luther University (MLU) Halle-Wittenberg. The Core Facility Imaging (CFI) of the medical faculty of the MLU is dedicated to providing high-end imaging and next-generation-sequencing (NGS) technology services for biomedical research. The implementation of spatial biology capabilities in the CFI aims to close the gap between NGS-driven gene expression analyses and protein studies by IHC in clinical as well as experimental specimens. At the MLU, spatial biology technologies will be provided by the CFI to support various third party funded projects, and DFG-funded research consortia, namely the RTGs as well as the recently granted RU. Beyond these mainly cancer research centered applications, the implementation of UCSI technologies via the CFI will essentially strengthen the research infrastructure in the Halle-Leipzig area (middle Germany) to support biomedical research at the single cell level.