scHolography: a computational method for single-cell spatial neighborhood reconstruction and analysis

Genome Biol. 2024 Jun 24;25(1):164. doi: 10.1186/s13059-024-03299-3.

Abstract

Spatial transcriptomics has transformed our ability to study tissue complexity. However, it remains challenging to accurately dissect tissue organization at single-cell resolution. Here we introduce scHolography, a machine learning-based method designed to reconstruct single-cell spatial neighborhoods and facilitate 3D tissue visualization using spatial and single-cell RNA sequencing data. scHolography employs a high-dimensional transcriptome-to-space projection that infers spatial relationships among cells, defining spatial neighborhoods and enhancing analyses of cell-cell communication. When applied to both human and mouse datasets, scHolography enables quantitative assessments of spatial cell neighborhoods, cell-cell interactions, and tumor-immune microenvironment. Together, scHolography offers a robust computational framework for elucidating 3D tissue organization and analyzing spatial dynamics at the cellular level.

Keywords: Deep learning; Neural network; Single-cell spatial transcriptomics; Spatial neighborhood analysis; Stable matching neighbor.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Communication
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Humans
  • Machine Learning*
  • Mice
  • Single-Cell Analysis* / methods
  • Transcriptome
  • Tumor Microenvironment