CosMx™ Human 6K Discovery Panel Grant Winner Announcement- Singapore

Grant Winners:

1 Winner – Enjoy a 100% discount (free) on CosMx™ 6K Discovery Panel services from LifeStrands Genomics, a NanoString service provider in Singapore

Jozef Balla, Ph.D.
Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Program,
Duke-NUS Medical School

Project Title: Spatial mapping of the developing human fetal brain immune system

Project Summary:

Healthy adult brain parenchyma is classically thought to only contain specialized resident macrophages – microglia. Interestingly, microglia were shown to be among the first immune cells to appear during early embryonic development and unlike most other immune cells, they self-renew in situ, without recruiting bone marrow-derived precursors from circulation. In our preliminary experiments, we have identified additional rare immune cell populations in the developing rodent and human fetal brains, also relatively early during pregnancy. However, it is currently unknown when these leukocytes migrate into the human central nervous system (CNS) and what their functions may be. This represents a major gap in human brain immunology. We aim to use the CosMx platform to map immune cells located in the different developing brain regions. The gene expression data may inform us about their ontogeny and unique adaptations to the CNS environment. 

Timothy Shuen, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow, Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore
Research Manager, the VICTORY (Virus-Induced Cancer: Translational Oncology Research & immunology) Programme

Project Title: Deciphering the complexity of tumour heterogeneity and the immune microenvironment in neoadjuvant immune-oncology (IO) drug treated human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) 

Project Summary:

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks as the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. In recent years, the FDA has approved immune-oncology drug-based combinations for treating advanced HCC. These combinations include anti-PD-L1 and anti-VEGF antibodies (atezolizumab and bevacizumab) as well as anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies (tremelimumab and durvalumab). However, the best overall response rates with these systemic therapies are only about 30%, primarily due to intra-tumoural heterogeneity, a complex tumour microenvironment, and the lack of predictive biomarkers (reviewed in Chen, Shuen, and Chow, 2024, Br. J. Cancer). Additionally, there is limited knowledge about the treatment response and resistance mechanisms in HCC patients receiving single IO treatments. To address this gap and better understand the complexity of tumour heterogeneity and the immune microenvironment in IO-treated HCC, we propose utilising state-of-the-art spatial technology, NanoString CosMx, to analyse archival FFPE tissues from neoadjuvant anti-PD1-treated HCC responders and non-responder. Different fields of view (FOVs) will be selected based on the pathological features observed in both the tumour and stromal regions across the tissue sections for the 6000-plex Discovery Panel profiling. We believe that this project will uncover potential microenvironment-based biomarkers and guide the development of rational combination immunotherapies for the effective targeting of HCC.

Reagan Entigu Anak Linton, Ph.D.

Research Fellow, Department of Pathology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Project Title: Characterizing the tumour microenvironment: Immune infiltration and tumour progression

Project Summary:

Due to the rarity of Natural Killer/T cell lymphoma (NKTL), the samples are usually very small in number and mostly in Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) format. The NanoString CosMX Spatial Molecular Imager will be utilised to map gene expression within the spatial context of tissue architecture, providing insights into cell-cell interactions and the tumour microenvironment of NKTL. Data will be analysed using bioinformatics tools to identify and characterise novel cell populations, supplemented by functional assays. This comprehensive approach aims to elucidate the molecular signatures and functional states of the immune landscape and NKTL progression, offering potential prognostic gene signatures.