Immune Monitoring

The Immune Monitoring core provides complete sample-to-data service for clinical and translational investigators who need access to technologies such as multiplex immunofluorescent imaging and spatial transcriptomics. We minimize the hands-on work so investigators can spend more time analyzing their data and testing their hypotheses.

We specialize in imaging the tumor microenvironment, assisting investigators in validating phenotypic signatures of immune and tumor cells.

Services

Access the Services

The Immune Monitoring Core facility has full time dedicated staff that operate the following equipment for investigators:

Leica Bond-RX Mulitplex IHC Stainer
Akoya PhenoImager HT whole slide scanner
nanoString nCounter Pro Analysis System
nanoString GeoMX Digital Spatial Profiler

Leica Bond-RX
This automated slide stainer performs hands-free preparation, antigen retrieval and antibody labeling of both fresh and formalin-fixed paraffin embedded samples. Preparation of samples for various assays such as in situ hybridization, immunofluorescence, and multispectral immunohistochemistry can be accomplished. The automated dispensing system reduces the variability inherent with manual preparation and can label up to 30 slides in a single overnight run.

Akoya PhenoImager HT
This multispectral imager allows the unambiguous identification and quantification of up to 8 biomarkers on a single slide. High speed digital whole-slide scanning of up to 40 slides per run can be accomplished. With the ability to quantify multiple biomarkers within the tumor microenvironment, this technology opens the possibility of using spatial phenotyping for clinical research.

nCounter Pro Analysis System
The analysis system uses fluorescent bar-coded probes to perform multiplex analysis of up to 800 targets, such as RNA or protein. Once collected, samples from FFPE, fresh or frozen tissue or cell lysates are loaded onto the nCounter prep station, an automated liquid handling robot that loads the sample onto a sample cartridge. After immobilization and washing, the prepared cartridge is loaded onto the nCounter Analyzer which counts the barcoded probes, providing quantification of the target molecules without the need for amplification. Typically, analysis of 12 samples can be accomplished in 24 hours with minimal hands-on time.

GeoMX Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP)
The DSP allows investigators to query the local transcriptome or proteome of a specific region on a slide. Whole tissue sections of FFPE or fresh frozen tissue are saturated with barcoded probes, and then imaged using predefined morphological markers and then precise regions of interest (ROI) are selected based on cell type or tissue compartment. After harvesting the ROI, quantitation of the barcoded probes is accomplished either on the nCounter Pro Analysis System or by Illumina sequencing.