The Spatial Biology Week™ 2022: accelerating discoveries through a spatial lens

The Spatial Biology Week™ brought experts from industry and academia together for the second time to discuss innovations and insights in the spatial biology field. The 1-week online meeting explored how new, cutting-edge technology solutions in spatial biology can accelerate research and help scientists and clinicians gain a profound knowledge of the underlying pathophysiological states of diseases.

Other fields of study focus solely on the statistical presence or absence of cells and molecules, and non-spatial platforms hinder more significant insights into the tissue context. Spatial biology adds a new dimension, providing additional understanding into molecule co-expression, cell-to-cell interaction, and cell-to-microenvironment interaction.

Through the previous two blog posts presenting the takeaways of The Spatial Biology Week™, it has become clear that the field’s leaders agree that spatial biology platforms fill the gap of limitations of other current technologies, and spatial biology is at the forefront of scientific discovery.

Spatial biology unlocks new frontiers

During the virtual meeting, presenters highlighted that spatial biology has the potential to drive hypothesis generation instead of just confirming them. By harnessing spatial biology’s full potential, researchers can advance biomarker discovery and, ultimately, develop the next generation of personalized medicine.

Biomarker validation is essential for quality data generation; however, it can be time-consuming. With new technology platforms, some show capabilities to optimize antibodies quickly, without compromising data quality and reproducibility. By leveraging quantifiable immunofluorescence to gather more insights from every sample, there may be a time in the near future when new biomarkers are being discovered while running validations for other targets.

Dr. Joe Yeong, Group Leader at the Technology and Research (A*STAR)’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), talking about biomarkers, said, “it could be an AI combination, but I foresee something discovered from spatial technology and translated to a clinical setting. I think this is for sure coming, and it should be soon.” During her presentation, Dr. Ghislaine Lioux, Senior Field Applications Scientist at Indica Labs, also reinforced the unfolding promise of translating spatial insights to achieve clinical impact by showing how the combination of powerful machines and analysis tools “can be a first step towards therapy design.”

Similarly, Dr. Denis Schapiro, Group Leader at Heidelberg University Hospital, expressed that he envisions biomarkers obtained through spatial biology will be integrated into clinical cancer diagnostics. “I think that’s the vision of everyone here who is part of this field and community, that we want to bring this into diagnostic. I think we are still a few years away, but we are on the right way.”

With spatial biology platforms being adopted in more labs around the world, it is inspiring to see how these game-changing technologies are moving closer to the clinic, where they will be able to benefit patients’ lives directly.