IMAXT (Imaging and Molecular Annotation of Xenografts and Tumours) is an international project funded by Cancer Research UK that uses spatial-omics methods, including virtual reality, to build three-dimensional molecular maps of tumours. CamCEAD provides the large-scale data processing and pipelines, bringing experience from astronomical computing to cancer research.
Cancer Research UK, Cancer Grand Challenges, funded 2017
5 countries
Funded by CRUK in 2017
Focus on breast cancer
What is IMAXT?
IMAXT is a spatial multi-omics platform for making detailed three-dimensional maps of tumours in which each cell stays in its original place, so that the way cells interact with each other and with their surroundings can be studied. The project was led by Professor Greg Hannon at the CRUK Cambridge Institute and brought together people working in biology, mathematics, bioinformatics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and neuroscience at eight institutions in the UK, Switzerland, the USA, Canada and Ireland.
The aim was to build one platform that combines advanced imaging with single-cell methods, measuring DNA, RNA and protein in the same tissue while keeping track of where each cell is. The result is a set of interactive 3D tumour maps that can be viewed in virtual reality with Project Theia, which lets researchers look around inside a tumour.
"Building a tumour in virtual reality allows us to see information about behaviour, location and characteristics of tumour cells simultaneously."
Professor Greg Hannon, Team Lead, CRUK Cambridge Institute
CamCEAD's role
CamCEAD runs the large-scale data processing and pipelines for IMAXT. We use the same experience in automated image analysis, distributed computing and AI that we built up on astronomical surveys. The methods we use to process billions of star observations from Gaia, WEAVE and VISTA work just as well for terabytes of high-resolution tumour images, and IMAXT shows how astronomical data science can help cancer research and personalised medicine.
Technologies
Imaging
- STPT (serial two-photon tomography), used on tumours at high throughput for the first time
- 3D IMC (three-dimensional imaging mass cytometry)
- HiFi (hyperplexed fluorescence imaging)
Molecular profiling
- Ex-Seq (expansion in situ sequencing)
- MERFISH (multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridisation)
- DLP+ (whole-genome single-cell sequencing)
- WILD-Seq (single-cell clonal barcoding)
Project Theia: virtual reality
Virtual reality software that handles spatial datasets of millions of single cells in real time. Several researchers, even in different places, can explore and analyse the same 3D tumour model together.
Main results
Tumour surroundings
The team showed that in breast cancer the way cells are arranged around a tumour is closely linked to how patients fare, and found particular patterns in that arrangement that could help predict outcomes.
Drug resistance
Using DLP+, the team found that drug treatment can reverse which cancer cells are best able to survive, giving new insight into how cancers change under treatment.
Opening up the platform
The IMAXT platform and its data infrastructure are now being opened to other researchers through SPACE, the Spatial Profiling and Annotation Centre of Excellence, set up at the University of Cambridge in 2024.
Source: Cancer Grand Challenges: IMAXT
