Spatial Navigator
Podcast

Presenting a recorded conversation from AGBT, where we engage in dialogue with two esteemed guests from the University of Queensland. Collaborating in the realm of virology, they possess a distinctive and invaluable collection of samples—the ones from the 1918 Spanish flu.

In this episode, discover the compelling reasons behind the partnership between a virologist and a spatial omics expert. Together, they embark on a mission to address a pivotal question: Can spatial multiomics be applied to historical samples to unravel the unique aspects of the immune response to the 1918 influenza virus in young adults?

Listen to Will Howat, Vice President of Validation & Technical Quality at Abcam and Alyssa Rosenbloom, Associate Director of Research Proteomics discuss how the GeoMx IO Proteome Atlas panel was developed and validated as part of the Abcam-NanoString partnership. Tune in to this episode and get ready to investigate the expression of 570+ human protein targets on one slide.

Listen how spatial biology brought together a nephrologist and a cancer research graduate student from the University of Oxford to help each other dissect the role played by the immune system in skin and lung cancer and open the way for new immuno-therapy drug targets.

In this episode, we talked to David Krull, Associate Director at GSK, leading the cellular biomarkers team. He told us about his passion for coaching and mentoring and how vital networking and collaborations have been for his career. We discussed how pharmaceutical companies are embracing tissue profiling technologies and David shared his views on applying spatial omics for biomarker discovery.

In this new spatial navigator episode, we speak to a spatial pioneer, Pr. Ciarrocchi Professor at the Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale and Cancer Research institute of Reggio Emilia, who shares her passion for translational oncology and how she got started as group leader. During this podcast, we learn how her current work on spatial transcriptomics to dissect pleural mesothelioma heterogeneity directly serves her community. Listen to the episode to learn more about mesothelioma pathology, immune/inflammatory processes and biomarker discovery.

Sarah Best and Saskia Freytag are laboratory heads at the Brain Cancer Research Lab in Australia’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.In this podcast episode, they share their views and interest for tackling high-grade glioma by dissecting its heterogeneity and its interactions with the microenvironment. They also discuss why Spatial Biology was key to uncover subtype-specific heterogeneity and how they combined the power of GeoMx DSP and CosMx SMI to maximize their understanding of this cancer type. At the end of the episode, they comment on the future of spatial multiomics, why location matters and how it is revolutionizing the field.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

In this episode we talk about Dr. Orr’s research on the effects of tau accumulation on cellular senescence and how leveraging spatial biology with both GeoMx DSP and CosMx SMI teaches us more about the biology of neurodegenerative diseases than we have learned in the past 10 years.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

Dogs are man’s best friend, but more than companions, in veterinary science, dogs are being studied to develop better cancer treatments that can translate to the clinic. Today we talk to Dr Cheryl London from Tufts University. She is a Veterinarian and a Vet Oncologist. We discuss how and why canines are used as model animals for cancer and how she worked with NanoString as a part of a consortium to develop the Canine IO panel on the nCounter and the hot-off-the-press Canine Cancer Atlas on the GeoMx.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

“I am passionate about my work because I want to find new ways to improve the lives of cancer patients.” – Dr. Dana Mustafa

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Dana Mustafa, a cancer researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Dr. Mustafa discusses her research on pancreatic cancer and brain metastasis, and she shares her insights on the challenges and opportunities of cancer research. She also offers advice to young aspiring researchers who want to make a difference in the fight against cancer.

Dr. Mustafa is a passionate and dedicated researcher who is committed to finding new ways to treat cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients. She is a role model for young aspiring researchers who want to do translational work and affect clinical outcomes.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

On today’s episode, we talk to Dr. Quan Ngyuen. He is a renowned genomics and machine learning expert, leading the GML lab at IMB, University of Queensland. Focused on cancer-immune cells and neuroinflammation, he strives to improve diagnosis and treatments through single-cell analysis and spatial analysis of tissue.

We discuss his experience working with multiple spatial technologies, his thoughts on data analysis, and its best practices. We also get his wishlist for both spatial instruments and the larger research community.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

Dr. Radosevic-Robin is a surgical and molecular pathologist at the Jean Perrin Comprehensive Cancer Center in Clermont-Ferrand, France, She is a senior translational oncology scientist (which includes being a cell biologist too) within the Center and within the Research Unit 1240 of INSERM, The French National Institute for Health & Disease Research and lastly, she is an Associate Research Professor at the University Clermont Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

We have a great conversation on why understanding heterogeneity is important, the benefits she sees in using curated panels of the nCounter, and her opinions on the GeoMx DSP and how biologists should consult pathologists for study design and understanding their tissue.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

Ulcerative Colitis (UC) & Crohn’s Disease (CD) are chronic Inflammatory Bowel Diseases that have significant effects on patients. They are notoriously hard to treat due to (but not limited to) the following reasons:

1. Chronic and Relapsing Nature: Both UC and CD are chronic diseases that can have unpredictable and relapsing symptoms, making it difficult to maintain long-term control of the condition.

2. The complexity of the disease: The underlying mechanisms that cause UC and CD are not fully understood, and the diseases can affect different parts of the digestive tract in different ways, making it challenging to develop a one-size-fits-all treatment approach.

3. Inter-patient heterogeneity: People with UC and CD can have varying symptoms and respond differently to treatments, making it difficult to determine the most effective approach for each individual.

4. Side Effects of Medications: The medications used to treat UC and CD can have side effects and may not be effective for everyone. In some cases, long-term use of these medications can also lead to additional health problems.

Dr. Azucena Salas is a collaborator with Dr. Holger Heyn and they released a pre-print on investigating Inflammatory Bowel Disease with both sc-RNA-Seq and the CosMx SMI. We discuss the difficulties in treatment, interpatient heterogeneity, and the discovery of different macrophage populations which seem to add to that heterogeneity and variation in phenotype.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

Dr. Sharma’s lab focuses on the onco-fetal reprogramming of cancer tissue. In this episode, we discuss his fascination with evolution and these cancer cells which seemingly recall programs from organogenesis a “cell memory”, particularly in the liver. We also talk about his thoughts on the upcoming in situ platforms and the data he gathered from his CosMx SMI experiment.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

We talk to Richard Klinghoffer Ph.D., CEO and CSO of Presage Biosciences. Presage’s Comparative In Vivo Oncology (CIVO™) system administers micro-doses of multiple drugs and/or combinations simultaneously to distinct trackable positions within a solid tumor. The tumor is then resected and analyzed to understand the microenvironment response to each spatially defined region of exposure. This is in a bid to evaluate early investigational stage cancer drugs in the most relevant context – the cancer patient, without exposing the patient to toxic effects associated with systemic delivery. We talk to Rich about his journey to Presage, the nuances between running a company and running experiments, and the field of drug development and how spatial instruments like the GeoMx DSP will influence that endeavor.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

What are the considerations when choosing a technology platform? How can we harness knowledge from other biology to increase our understanding of cancer and other diseases?

Dr. William Hwang worked closely with Dr. Jason Reeves’ team at NanoString for his publication that made the August cover of Nature Genetics. We discuss the findings of that publication on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the importance of asking good questions. He also shares how he connects information from seemingly unrelated fields to advance discovery.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, skeptics have been saying that a SARS-CoV2 infection is like getting the flu… but is that true? Arutha shares his spatial data comparing Influenza-A lung tissue and SARS-CoV2 lung tissue. The results led to the development of a predictor of disease severity for COVID-19. We further discuss the workflow of moving from discovery to translation. Arutha also shares his thoughts on asking the right spatial questions and collaborating with pathologists to navigate and map tissues.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

Androgenetic alopecia is the loss of terminal hair affecting up to 50% of males and 25% of females at age 50. The skin is a complex organ that seems to have its own ecology, how do we understand the factors causing alopecia? Dr Saranyoo Ponnikorn and Dr Sasin Charoensuksira used Digital Spatial Profiling to identify cell populations in individual follicles to understand the mechanisms of the condition.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

What goes into the development of a vaccine? Why are some viruses so hard to weed out? We speak to Dr. Eugenia Ong and Dr. Chan Kuan Rong to see how their lab works to develop biomarkers and test the efficacy of developed vaccines. We further discuss the vaccine development landscape in a post-covid world.

Nanostring’s Social Platforms:

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Instagram: https://bit.ly/3uOSyfH

Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3DB7j9P

Nanostring’s Website: https://nanostring.com/

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

What if we could test drugs and immunotherapies on copies of human tumors on a glass slide? While animal models have been indispensable in the study of disease and therapeutics, they can be incredibly expensive, time consuming, and often do not entirely reflect human biology.

Dr. Andrea Pavesi and Dr. Maxine Lam are looking to change that, producing vascularized tumor organoids at scale in microfluidic devices that recapitulate specific human disease.

Nanostring’s Social Platforms:

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3qVLXyT

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3uOSyfH

Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3DB7j9P

Nanostring’s Website: https://nanostring.com/

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

Genomics has come such a long way – from radioactive gels, Sanger sequencing, NGS, Single-cell, and now Spatial Transcriptomics. Swati Ranade’s career has spanned nearly all of it. She recalls the work she did for her Ph.D. and has always found herself at the bleeding edge of biology. She talks about the Spatial Organ Atlas and how it’s a launch platform for biologic discoveries and will drive a deeper understanding of diseases.

The Spatial Navigator Podcast seeks to share how Spatial Biology is revolutionising the understanding and the improvement of the human condition.

Nanostring’s Social Platforms:

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3qVLXyT

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3uOSyfH

Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3DB7j9P

Nanostring’s Website: https://nanostring.com/

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

Stroke is the number 2 cause of death worldwide and cases that are not fatal potentially change a patient’s perception, personality, and physical mobility. Matilde Balbi, Ph.D., and CongWang, Ph.D. from the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) study stroke and seek to understand whether neuromodulation can assist recovery and prevent further damage to the brain.

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

On this episode we talk to Elizabeth Schneider, PhD. She was among the first in the USA to contract COVID-19 and shares her experience with the disease, and how it intertwined subsequently with her work. We discuss how Nanostring has changed over the last 5 years, her work on the neuroscience and infectious disease portfolio, and chat about her work on grants, enabling researchers to have access to phenomenal data through the GeoMx and nCounter platforms.

The Spatial Navigator Podcast seeks to share how Spatial Biology is revolutionising the understanding and the improvement of the human condition.

Nanostring’s Social Platforms:

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3qVLXyT

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3uOSyfH

Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3DB7j9P

Nanostring’s Website: https://nanostring.com/

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.

The symptoms of ovarian cancer can mimic other conditions and thus tends to result in late diagnoses (Diagnosis at stage I or II happens under 20% of the time). In our pilot episode, we commemorate International Women’s Day with Dr Ruby Huang PhD. She has studied Ovarian cancer and talks to us about the challenges the scientific community faces in the treatment and study of the disease. She takes some time to address the gaps in the understanding of female-centred and female related conditions and charts a roadmap towards equity in that regard.

The Spatial Navigator Podcast seeks to share how Spatial Biology is revolutionising the understanding and the improvement of the human condition.

Nanostring’s Social Platforms:

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3qVLXyT

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3uOSyfH

Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3DB7j9P

Nanostring’s Website: https://nanostring.com/

This podcast includes information regarding worldwide products and services, not all of which are available in every country.