Multiomics: The Best of Multiplex and ISH

Course overview

The session Multiomics: The Best of Multiplex and ISH attempts to introduce listeners to the two core concepts that make up multiomics and demonstrate how it can be enacted in labs around the country. The first of the core concepts is multiplex IHC, that which combines multiple antibodies together to visualize multiple proteins of interest. The second core concept is In Situ Hybridization (ISH) that uses genetic probes to visualize RNA in tissue. The technique of multiomics finds ways to visualize both proteins and RNA at the same time on the same microscope slide. This allows for an interrogation of a tissues disease state before and after RNA transcription attempts to turn genetic codes into proteins. This allows researchers to learn more about the state of their tissue, and is especially important for research that focuses on genetic manipulation such as AAV and CRISPR therapies. The technique is enabled by finding a way to amplify genetic material into a readable signal without breaking down protein. This was always a limiting factor because proteases were historically used to enable ISH to insert the probes into cells; but that always lead to downstream protein degradation and the death of the dream of multiomics. New amplification system allow a small hairpin like structure to be inserted without protease and then followed up by antibodies with protein epitopes intact. The talk will demonstrate how this can all be accomplished theoretically, and then practically in the laboratory.