SciLifeLab-led consortium receives Pathfinder grant to enable sequencing-based microscopy in 3D

SciLifeLab researcher Ian Hoffecker (KTH) is the coordinator of a consortium that has been awarded a European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder grant for the VOLUMINEX project. This grant is intended to support research that fuels innovations with commercial potential, and part of the project is aimed at steering the research toward practical implementation for biomedical imaging that could, in the coming years, be turned into a successful commercial venture.

The VOLUMINEX project is about taking a novel approach to obtain spatial information for constructing molecular maps. Instead of using conventional fluorescence microscopy or array-based techniques, they use networks of DNA spread throughout the tissue sample to create a record of each tiny space. Think of it like mapping Europe using train connections: if a city is five stops from Stockholm, three from Paris, and three from Munich, you might deduce that it’s in the Netherlands.

VOLUMINEX project coordinator and KTH researcher Ian Hoffecker elaborates, “The same principle applies to molecular networks in the space of a tissue sample. Our goal in the project is to create a record of such a spatial network, in 3D, that can be recovered by high throughput sequencing. In that way, it becomes possible to use sequencing instead of optics to do microscopic analysis.”

This approach could change the landscape of biomedical imaging, allowing researchers to create detailed molecular maps without the need for traditional optics, making high-resolution tissue analysis more accessible and informative.

“Being able to map many different molecular targets in 3D will give a much richer picture of how cells are communicating and interacting. Another application space is in clinical diagnostics – currently imaging is a routine part of clinical biopsies, and this technology could potentially automate some of the information-gathering done on clinical samples by enabling clinicians to retrieve images by conducting a series of chemical reactions on a sample followed by sequencing, a process which could be made into a simple protocol if our project is successful,” Hoffecker continues.

Collaborating across Europe

VOLUMINEX brings together experts from various fields of research and organizations across Europe: KTH, project coordinator and biotechnology developer Ian Hoffecker; Karolinska Institutet, led by DNA nanotechnology researcher Erik Benson (also affiliated with SciLifeLab); Single Technologies AB (a KTH spinout company) led by CEO Johan Strömqvist; Sorbonne University in Paris, led by physicist Martin Weigt; and the Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology in Utrecht, headed by biologists Delilah Hendriks and Benedetta Artegiani.

SciLifeLab provides an exceptional environment for cutting-edge research, supported by advanced infrastructure. This project, in particular, benefits from the close partnership between Ian Hoffecker (KTH) and Erik Benson (KI), both located at the SciLifeLab campus in Solna.

“SciLifeLab is a great research environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure including computational hardware, imaging facilities, sequencing with NGI, and world-class colleagues. It also brings together multiple institutions, and in this project in particular we are one researcher from Karolinska (Erik Benson) as well as myself from KTH who are both located at SciLifeLab campus Solna, meaning that we are able to work in close collaboration and proximity,“ Ian Hoffecker concludes.

More info about the 2024 Pathfinder grants