A spatially-resolved transcriptional atlas of the murine dorsal pontine tegmentum

The dorsal pontine tegmentum (PnTg) is part of the Pons, the largest section of the brainstem. It is a complex region involved in the regulation of many vital functions. However, the transcriptome and the spatial organization of its cells have never been described.

 

We applied single-nucleus RNA-seq (snRNA-seq) to resolve neuronal subtypes based on their unique transcriptional profile and then multiplexed error robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH) to map them spatially.

 

Interpreting and gaining insights from spatial data can be a daunting process. Static plots are useful for displaying the complexity but cannot query data in real time.

In collaboration with HEAVY.AI, we developed a dashboard that, by harnessing the massive parallelism of modern GPU and CPU hardware, produces interactive visualization of spatial-transcriptomic data that can be queried analyzed in real-time within the dashboard itself. This interaction can help uncover insights and identify trends faster, leading to better, data-driven decisions.

 

Learning Objectives