Spatial Biology Discovery Grant 2023

Decipher tumor immune biology with comprehensive spatial phenotyping

Co-sponsor:

Akoya Biosciences and Enable Medicine invite scientists involved in cancer research to apply for the 2023 Spatial Biology Discovery Grant.

Submit your application by Sept 1, 2023

Are you looking to better understand tumor immune biology, such as the mechanisms behind immune activation and immune evasion?
Have you ever wondered what you could uncover by adding a spatial dimension to your research?

Using spatial phenotyping, scientists are gaining unprecedented views of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) and tumor heterogeneity that may help elucidate how some cancers are able to grow undetected by the immune system and why individuals have differing responses to immunotherapy.

With the recent launch of our PhenoCode Discovery Panels, this technology is now more accessible than ever before. These ready-to-use high-plex protein panels are curated to help you answer key biological questions about tumor origin, the identity and localization of various cell types in your sample, the status of immune cells, and more. Also, thanks to our growing ecosystem of software partners – including our newest partner Enable Medicine – seamless end-to-end spatial biology workflows are now a reality.

Through this grant program, we’re excited to extend these capabilities to your research and help fuel your next great discovery. Learn more about this grant opportunity below and be sure to submit your application by September 1, 2023.

What you will receive:

Two winners will be selected to receive:

Deep spatial phenotyping with their choice of two PhenoCode Discovery Panel Modules (25-plex) on up to three FFPE human tissue samples.
An assay report generated by our software analysis partner, Enable Medicine.

How to apply:

Complete the application form on this page and tell us, in 300 words or less, about how PhenoCode Discovery Panels and the Enable Medicine software analysis platform would help you advance your immuno-oncology research.

Terms & Conditions:

Applications must be received by September 1, 2023 to receive consideration. See here for additional terms and conditions.

Resources to help you plan your project/grant application:

Learn more about PhenoCode Discovery Panels and the PhenoCycler-Fusion staining and imaging instrument.
Learn more about the Enable Medicine software analysis platform.
Contact us to if you have questions about your research or experiment design.
See the markers included in the four PhenoCode Discovery Panels:

Immune Profiling Human Protein Core

Target	Biological Relevance
CD4	Helper T cells
CD44	Activated T cells
CD68	Macrophages
CD45RO	Memory T cells
CD45	Immune cells
CD11c	Dendritic cells
CD8	Cytotoxic Tcells
CD56	NK cells
HLA-A	MHC I
HLA-DR	APCs (MHC II)
CD14	Monocytes
Ki67	Proliferating cells
CD20	B cells
Pan-Cytokeratin	Tumor cells
CD3e	T cells

Tissue Architecture Human Protein Module

Target	Biological Relevance
CD31	Vascular structures
SMA	Vascular structures, fibroblasts, smooth muscle
E-cadherin	Epithelial cells
Vimentin	Cyto-structures
CD34	Vascular structures
Collagen IV	Extracellular matrix (ECM)
Caveolin	Integral membrane protein
b-Catenin1	Cell adhesion, Wnt signaling
Beta-actin	Cytoskeleton, housekeeping gene
Podoplanin	Lymphatics

Immune Activation & Proliferation Human Protein Module

Target	Biological Relevance
CD40	Activated dendritic cells
IFNG	Activated lymphocytes
IDO1	Multifunctional/Immune inhibitory
HLA-E	MHC I
PCNA	Proliferating cells
VISTA	Immune checkpoint
PD-L1	Checkpoint ligand
PD-1	Checkpoint receptor
ICOS	Checkpoint receptor
LAG3	Checkpoint receptor

Lymphocyte Profiling Human Protein Module

Target	Biological Relevance
CD107a	CD8+ and NK cells; lysosomal marker
FOXP3	Regulatory T cells
CD21	B cells
Granzyme B	Activated T cells/NK cells
T-bet/TBX21	Transcription factor, Th1 T cell development
TOX	Transcription factor; T cell exhaustion
TCF-1	Transcription factor, Wnt signaling
CD38	Plasma B cells
CD79a	B cells; pre B ALL
CD39	T cell exhaustion