Based on a study co-led by researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine, New York-Presbyterian and the New York Genome Center, a new method of viewing cell activity is being discussed. This new method records gene activity patterns and the presence of key proteins in cells across tissue samples, while retaining information about the precise locations of those cells. This method is called Spatial PrOtein and Transcriptome Sequencing (SPOTS) and uses glass slides coated with thousands of special probe molecules for imaging tissue samples with ordinary microscope-based pathology methods. Using this method, scientists were able to map the cellular organization of a breast tumor in a mouse. The new method joins a larger initiative by scientists and engineers to discover new and better ways to see organs and tissues working at micro scale.
Reference: New Method Precisely Locates Gene Activity and Proteins Across Tissues. Weill Cornell Medicine Newsroom. Published January 2, 2023. Accessed January 12, 2023. https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2023/01/new-method-precisely-locates-gene-activity-and-proteins-across-tissues
