Bridging the gap between histopathology and genomics: Spotlighting spatial omics

Area of Science:

• Spatial biology and spatial omics
• Veterinary pathology

Background:

• Spatial biology provides insights into cellular interactions and tissue organization.
• The field of spatial omics has rapidly evolved, with widespread technologies to spatially resolve proteins, RNA, chromatin, and lipids.
• Reagents for analyzing veterinary species are increasingly available.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the advancements in spatial biology technologies.
• To emphasize the potential of these technologies in veterinary medicine.
• To underscore the role of spatial biology in improving diagnostics and therapeutics for animal diseases.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing advanced spatial omics technologies to analyze tissue samples.
• Developing and refining reagents for the analysis of veterinary species.
• Integrating histological observations with spatially resolved genomic data.

Main Results:

• Widespread availability of technologies to spatially resolve biomolecules (proteins, RNA, chromatin, lipids).
• Emerging reagents specifically designed for veterinary species analysis.
• Demonstrated potential for unraveling tissue architecture and cellular phenotype interplay.

Conclusions:

• Spatial biology offers transformative potential for veterinary medicine.
• These tools will enable veterinary pathologists to better understand complex diseases.
• Spatial biology can lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets in animals.