{"entity":{"id":"spatial-biology-instruments","kind":"technology","name":"Spatial biology instruments","aka":[],"tldr":"Spatial biology instruments are machines that map which genes and proteins are active in each part of a tumour slice.","summary":"10x Genomics (Visium HD, Xenium), Bruker Spatial Biology (formerly NanoString GeoMx and CosMx), Vizgen (MERSCOPE), Akoya Biosciences (PhenoCycler) and Lunaphore/Bio-Techne (COMET) sell instruments and reagents for spatial transcriptomics and multiplexed protein imaging. Patent litigation reshaped the market (NanoString bankruptcy and acquisition by Bruker, 2024). Clinical use is nascent; the research impact on tumour microenvironment biology is large.","status":"emerging","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Method of the Year 2020: spatially resolved transcriptomics (Nature Methods 2021)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-020-01042-x"}],"tags":["supporting"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["diagnostics","drug-discovery"],"technologies":["single-cell-spatial"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["10x-genomics","bruker","vizgen","akoya-biosciences"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-authors-nat-methods-2021"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"In situ hybridisation with barcoded probes imaged over many cycles, or capture arrays that record position, followed by sequencing.","strengths":["Preserves tissue architecture","Hundreds to thousands of genes per section"],"limitations":["Cost per section","Analysis complexity","Not yet reimbursed clinically"]},"route":"/technologies/spatial-biology-instruments/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"diagnostics","kind":"section","name":"Diagnostics & Biomarkers","route":"/fronts/diagnostics/"},{"id":"drug-discovery","kind":"section","name":"Drug Discovery Platforms","route":"/fronts/drug-discovery/"}],"technology":[{"id":"single-cell-spatial","kind":"technology","name":"Single-cell & spatial profiling","route":"/technologies/single-cell-spatial/"},{"id":"spatial-transcriptomics","kind":"technology","name":"Spatial transcriptomics","route":"/technologies/spatial-transcriptomics/"}],"company":[{"id":"10x-genomics","kind":"company","name":"10x Genomics","route":"/companies/10x-genomics/"},{"id":"akoya-biosciences","kind":"company","name":"Akoya Biosciences","route":"/companies/akoya-biosciences/"},{"id":"bruker","kind":"company","name":"Bruker (Bruker Spatial Biology)","route":"/companies/bruker/"},{"id":"vizgen","kind":"company","name":"Vizgen","route":"/companies/vizgen/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-authors-nat-methods-2021","kind":"paper","name":"Method of the Year 2020: spatially resolved transcriptomics","route":"/key-papers/paper-authors-nat-methods-2021/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"diagnostics-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Diagnostics roadmap: stains → gene panels → blood tests that decide treatment","route":"/roadmaps/diagnostics-roadmap/"}],"term":[{"id":"spatial-transcriptomics-platforms","kind":"term","name":"Spatial transcriptomics platforms (Visium HD, Xenium, MERFISH, CosMx, CODEX)","route":"/terms/spatial-transcriptomics-platforms/"}]}}