Spatial -omics: "Location, location, location" applies to biology, too

What a cell does depends not just on the genes it expresses or the proteins it produces, but also on its location within an organ or tissue. But many molecular experiments analyze cells in bulk, or even break down tissue samples into individual cells, which strips away information about where a given cell was within its original tissue, who its cellular neighbors were, what signals it received from those neighbors, and how those spatial relationships might influence its functions.

Scientists at ӳ��ý and elsewhere are working on powerful "spatial -omics" techniques that collect in-depth molecular profiles from individual cells while retaining detailed information about each cell's original location. By studying single cells in ways that capture their native environment, these methods are revealing more than ever before about how cells work and the mechanisms of disease.