Spatial proteomics, transcriptomics, and epigenomics are emerging to bring unprecedented opportunities to dissecting cell types and the underlying regulatory mechanisms of cell states in complex tissues. While the human hippocampus is pivotal for memory and emotion and implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders, its molecular dysfunction with spatial architecture remains elusive. Our engineering innovation in the spatial mRNA-seq and ATAC-seq platform resulted in the presentation of the first spatial omic atlas of the human hippocampus. This breakthrough reveals RNA dynamics in depression, highlighting therapeutic avenues by targeting gene regulatory networks. Our work has not only advanced the understanding of molecular psychiatry but has also showcased the feasibility and potentials of spatial biology in brain research.
Dr. Yang Xiao is a postdoctoral fellow of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University. She earned her Bachelor's in Molecular Biology from McGill University and her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Yale University, where she focused on tumor invasion in the perivascular niche using single-cell sequencing and organ-on-a-chip models. In Prof. Rong Fan's lab at Yale, Dr. Xiao was part of team that innovated the spatial platforms (DBiT-seq) for mRNA sequencing and open chromatin sequencing. Advancing her expertise in single-cell and spatial omics, Dr. Xiao joined the Kam Leong lab at Columbia, focusing on drug delivery and stem cell engineering. Her latest research applies spatial omic profiling of the human brain to decode memory and emotion in Major Depressive Disorder.