Project overview
Every organ is the result of a complex structure known as the microenvironment. Our understanding of how disease changes the tissue microenvironment remains limited. One challenge in studying disease related changes in the microenvironment is that we often lose understanding of tissue location - spatial information - when trying to measure many genes or proteins at once. Recent technology advances have overcome this limitation, providing the ability to study gene and protein expression much more reliably without losing spatial information. We wish to purchase equipment incorporating these novel technological advances to establish a Spatial Biology Platform. This will enable us to study gene and protein expression profiles in different regions within the organ, and to relate these changes to what is happening within individual cells. The Spatial Biology Platform will be sited in the Biomedical Imaging Unit of the University of Southampton, an open access facility managed by permanent, senior scientists and technical staff with proven expertise in promoting system productivity, longevity, and uptake. We will apply the Platform to study diseases with significant unmet need for which we have large biobanks of tissue linked to patient outcome data. To maximise the benefit of the platform we will: (i) have dedicated technician and bioinformatic support, (ii) promote inter-disciplinary use of the Platform with engineers and mathematicians including developing 3D maps of human disease, and (iii) establish a regular Spatial Biology Course to train the next generation of scientists and technicians in these approaches.
