PR95822

SHENZHEN, China, May 5, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

STOC launches with more than 80 scientists joining globally, focused on

obtaining the greatest scientific benefits from spatially resolved

transcriptomics technology; first studies use BGI-Research's Stereo-seq to

produce spatiotemporal cellular maps of mice, Drosophila, zebrafish, and

Arabidopsis

Scientists from 16 countries today announced the establishment of the

SpatioTemporal Omics Consortium (STOC), an open scientific community focused on

using spatially resolved cellular resolution omics technology to map and

understand life. Their first studies resulted in state-of-the-art panoramic

spatial atlases of life, published in Cell and Developmental Cell on May 4.

Over 80 scientists from Harvard University, Oxford University, MIT, University

of Cambridge, the Karolinska Institutet, the University of Western Australia,

the Genome Institute of Singapore, BGI-Research, among others, are

collaborating as part of STOC. Members of the research group who produced the

panoramic atlases used a new enabling technology Stereo-seq, developed by

BGI-Research, to produce the most insightful spatiotemporal cellular maps to

date of mice, small fruit flies (Drosophila), zebrafish, and the Arabidopsis

plant, making a breakthrough in resolution and panoramic field of view and

enabling analysis of the distribution and placement of molecules and cells in

situ, and over time.

Identifying the characteristics of specific cells within a tissue has

significant applications for understanding physiology, how organisms develop,

and which cells are causes or indicators of disease, potentially leading to

future gains in human disease research. These lay an important foundation for

STOC's research initiatives, which aim to create diverse sets of spatiotemporal

atlases to broaden our knowledge of disease treatment, organ structures,

development and aging, and to improve our understanding of biological evolution.

"In the last few years, there has been a lot of progress of mapping the genome

and transcriptome in single cells. But this has been without the context of the

spatial aspect of neighbourhoods of cells, ecosystem of cells, and therefore

there is a whole layer of information that has been missing, which I think will

now become accessible. That will have a major impact on both basic and

translational research," says Berthold Göttgens, Director of the Wellcome-MRC

Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, and a Member of STOC.

The transformational aspects of spatiotemporal omics for scientific research

are captured in the goals of the STOC, as Weibin Liu, STOC Organizing Committee

Member, explains.

"The panoramic atlases published late yesterday are the first steps toward the

Consortium's vision of revolutionizing humanity's understanding of mind and

body, youth and old age, health and illness, the origin and future of the human

race, and the rest of the living world, for that matter," says Liu. "They lay

the groundwork for multiple atlases the Consortium could complete together, and

they validate approaches for creating other spatiotemporal atlases."

"Because of the magnitude of such endeavors, they require nothing short of a

concerted global effort, across multiple disciplines from science to

engineering to mathematics, and across diverse stakeholders from medicine to

industry to funders. Together with our 80+ members so far, we will work to

chart the way forward, to build new tools and competencies, to share resources

and results, to map and solve the unknown," he adds

The SpatioTemporal Omics Consortium (STOC) is an open, collaborative research

initiative established to unite, organize, advance and share global scientific

efforts in spatiotemporal omics to solve the mysteries of life. More

information about STOC can be found at www.sto-consortium.org.

SOURCE:  STOC