Spatial transcriptomics visualises molecules in cells and tissues in their spatial context. Flemish startup Aspect Analytics is developing a platform to make this technology more widely available.

Thanks to modern ‘omics’ techniques, more and more knowledge about individual cells is becoming available. However, less is known about how a cell behaves in its natural environment. Swedish researchers developed spatial transcriptomics technology in 2016, in which analyses also include the position of the cell in the tissue. With this, the ‘omics’ domain has taken off, according to the journal Nature, which in early 2022 described spatial transcriptomics as ‘one of the seven technologies to keep an eye on this year’.

Genk-based Aspect Analytics is jumping on this development. This spinoff of the STADIUS research group, part of electrical engineering at KU Leuven, recently obtained a capital injection of €1.8 million to further develop spatial transcriptomics.