EquipEx+ supported by ENS de Lyon, Spatial-Cell-ID proposes a national device to identify and characterize the spatio-temporal transcriptome of single cells in their tissue.
Fundamental biological mechanisms such as development are controlled by the fine regulation of genetic networks over time and space at the single-cell level. For technical reasons, biologists have long been limited to observe the average transcriptome of groups of cells within a tissue or organ.
Tissues are, however, made up of individual cells at various stages with a wide variety of shapes and functions. These differences are characterized by heterogeneity in the transcriptome of neighboring cells. It is now essential to systematically characterize the spatial distribution of this heterogeneity and its dynamics over time in situ.
That' s what Spatial-Cell-ID is all about: identifying and characterizing the transcriptome of each cell and its dynamics in animal and plant organisms, whether they are adults or developing, healthy or diseased.
The equipment, under development through 2024, will integrate the latest advances in spatial transcriptomics. The wide spectrum of cutting-edge approaches proposed, working in synergy on the same site, is unprecedented in Europe. Spatial-Cell-ID is the first facility in France to provide integrated single-cell spatio-temporal analysis in strong relation with the national network of genomics, imaging, and bioinformatics infrastructures “France Génomique”, “France BioImaging”, and IFB cloud (“Institut Français de Bioinformatique”).