Bridging Molecules and Genes: Integrating MALDI Imaging and Spatial Transcriptomics on a Single Tissue Section
Integrating MALDI Imaging with spatial transcriptomics enables a more complete understanding of tissue organization by combining molecular distributions with high resolution gene expression patterns on the same tissue section. This multimodal approach provides deeper insight into cellular heterogeneity, functional states, and microenvironmental interactions, surpassing what either technique can reveal alone.
This webinar brings together two perspectives that complete each other: a methodological view on how MALDI Imaging and spatial transcriptomics can be successfully integrated on a single tissue section, and an application focused perspective illustrating what new biological insights emerge once both data layers are aligned. Advances in sample compatibility, spatial coregistration, and data integration provide the technical foundation, while multimodal analyses of complex tissues reveal subtle molecular gradients, cell state variation, and region specific features relevant to disease mechanisms.
More broadly, linking biochemical phenotypes with transcriptional programs supports improved interpretation of complex tissues, biomarker discovery, and mechanistic studies across spatial biology, demonstrating how methodological innovation and biological application jointly enable deeper scientific insight.
Key Learning Objectives
- Understand why integrating MALDI Imaging with spatial transcriptomics provides deeper biological context than either modality alone
- Gain insight into how multimodal workflows can be implemented in practice
- Learn how multimodal spatial readouts help uncover disease relevant molecular patterns and cellular heterogeneity
- Discover how integrating molecular and transcriptomic information supports biomarker research and translational applications
- See how complementary spatial readouts contribute to advanced applications across neuroscience, oncology, and broader spatial biology
Who Should Attend
- Researchers in spatial biology, and multimodal imaging
- Scientists studying tissue‑level molecular changes
- Imaging mass spectrometry, transcriptomics, and single‑cell specialists exploring integrated workflows
- Anyone interested in how MALDI Imaging contributes to next‑generation spatial multiomics and respective study design
Presenter: Eva Cuypers, Associate Professor, M4i - Maastricht for Imaging, Maastricht, Netherlands
