Spatial Workflow Automation to Address the Challenges of Assay Efficiency, Variability, and Integration: A Core Leader’s Perspective.
Technological advancements have greatly expanded the number of commercially available spatial platforms. These platforms can quantitatively detect multiple protein targets (8-500) or transcripts (12-20,000) in tissue sections. This allows for in-depth understanding at the single cell or regional level, shedding light on tissue/organ development, normal physiology, and various pathologies such as cancer progression, immune, and therapeutic responses.
Our Collaborative Protein Technology Resources Core Lab provides NCI/NIH researchers access to three of these spatial platforms:
CODEX/Phenocycler Fusion (PCF): Enables detection of ~40-100 protein targets in both fresh and FFPE tissues at single-cell level.
GeoMx DSP (Digital Spatial Profiler): Allows region-based detection of hundreds of proteins or thousands of transcripts in either FFPE or fresh frozen tissues.
CosMx SMI (Spatial Molecular Imager): Facilitates the detection of approximately 1000 or 6000 transcripts or ~60 proteins in entire tissues at the single-cell level.
A shared characteristic of these technologies is their intricate, multistep workflows. These encompass tissue preparation, staining, imaging, sample collection, and post-imaging processing.
Given the manual nature of many of these steps, there's potential for errors and variability.
To enhance workflow efficiency and improve assay consistency, we've decided to deploy and test Parhelia Omni-Stainer™ instrument at our core. We were attracted by the combination of the instrument's affordable price, flexibility, and unique capabilities, including its ability to accommodate both slide-based and coverslip-based tissue samples. Another feature that made Parhelia Omni-Stainer™ attractive for us was its ability to provide out-of-box automation of the entire CODEX/PCF tissue prep process, which is a staple assay in our core, as well as the post-assay H&E staining essential for image analysis.
In this webinar, we are sharing our experience using Parhelia Omni-Stainer™ in the lab, including validation of CODEX/PCF workflow and post-run H&E staining. We are also presenting our initial results from the ongoing collaboration with Parhelia to fully automate the GeoMx DSP protocol.
We see Parhelia Omni-Stainer™ as a useful and versatile tool for a spatial core lab, which offers many benefits in terms of workflow optimization and cost savings, but also in the future will allow us to quickly adapt to and intergrate new assays, which is especially important given rapid developments in the field and the growing demand for RNA and protein in situ co-detection.