PhD University of Zurich, Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, Switzerland
Abstract: 3D Imaging Mass Cytometry (3D IMC) is a 3D tissue analysis method that extends the highly multiplexed imaging approach called imaging mass cytometry to comprehensively characterize tissues at single-cell resolution. It enables the simultaneous detection of up to 40 different molecular targets in their natural 3D environment. The 3D IMC workflow is designed to produce high-resolution, single-cell level 3D reconstructions from paraffin-embedded tissue blocks.
It overcomes the limitations of traditional 2D tissue imaging and prior 3D imaging methods that were restricted in the number of markers that could be examined. The usefulness of this technology is highlighted by analyzing four different breast cancer samples, showing how it can be used to study complex events in tissue, such as invasive tumor cells and lymphovascular invasion, in high detail.
This 3D IMC technology will be valuable for studying complex processes that occur in 3D space and will offer important insights into cellular microenvironments and tissue architecture with an aim to better understand tissue function, especially in diseases such as cancer.
