Cancer Research in the Age of Spatial Omics: Lessons from IMAXT

Cancer Discov. 2025 Jan 13;15(1):16-21. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-24-1686.

Abstract

The Imaging and Molecular Annotation of Xenografts and Tumors Cancer Grand Challenges team was set up with the objective of developing the "next generation" of pathology and cancer research by using a combination of single-cell and spatial omics tools to produce 3D molecularly annotated maps of tumors. Its activities overlapped, and in some cases catalyzed, a spatial revolution in biology that saw new technologies being deployed to investigate the roles of tumor heterogeneity and of the tumor micro-environment. See related article by Stratton et al., p. 22 See related article by Bhattacharjee et al., p. 28 See related article by Goodwin et al., p. 34.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Genomics* / methods
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms* / genetics
  • Neoplasms* / metabolism
  • Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Single-Cell Analysis / methods
  • Tumor Microenvironment