Volker BrunsSpatial Biology is a big hype right now and a rapidly growing discipline, especially spatial proteomics and spatial transcriptomics. Spatial biology is the intersection of anatomical pathology where the morphology of tissue is examined, and molecular pathology, where proteins, genes or transcripts are analyzed.
A more detailed introduction into Spatial Biology is available in our Spatial Biology 101 blog article.
If you are not a molecular biologist, we recommend reading our Molecular Biology 101 for Techies article first.
The following diagram explains the advantage of spatial transcriptomics over bulk sequencing and single-cell sequencing.
Spatial transcriptomics is likely the main discipline covered by the umbrella term “spatial biology”, the other one being “spatial proteomics”. Other areas such as metabolomics, lipidomics, glycomics, etc. are outside of this article’s scope. Vendors employ various technologies to generate spatial data. The technologies have different pros and cons and typically present trade-offs in this list of features:
| Scanning time | minutes ↔ days |
| Resolution | sub-cellular ↔ multiple cells |
| Field of View | mm ↔ cm |
| Analytes | proteins, RNAs, metabolites |
| Panel size | <10 genes ↔ whole exome |
| Costs | instrument, consumables, maintenance |
Technologies employed in spatial proteomics include Cyclic Restaining (seqIF), Multispectral Imaging (MSI), Mass Cytometry Imaging (MSI) such as Imaging Mass Cytometry by Time of Flight (CyToF) or Multiplexed Ion Beam Imaging (MIBI).
Technologies employed in spatial transcriptomics include In Situ Hybridization (FISH), In situ sequencing (ISS), pooled analysis of microdissected ROIs, and Microarrays (such as the popular Visium by 10x Genomics).
Free download of curated list of Spatial Biology solutions (instruments, softwares, assays …)
Last updated 25.07.2024.
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