Slide-tags enables single-nucleus barcoding for multimodal spatial genomics. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06837-4)

These scientists came up with a new way to study how genes work in our bodies. They used a special technique to look at individual cells and see which genes are turned on or off. But they wanted to do more than that - they wanted to see where these cells are located in our body. So they came up with a clever idea.

They developed a strategy called Slide-tags. They took tiny pieces of DNA called barcode oligonucleotides and attached them to the cells in our body. These barcode oligonucleotides are like special tags that tell us where the cells are. They used this technique on different parts of a mouse's brain, a human brain, tonsils, and a type of skin cancer called melanoma.

By using Slide-tags, they were able to see where different types of cells are in our brain and in our lymphoid tissue. They also found out how cells communicate with each other in these tissues. They even used this technique to study cancer cells and understand how they change in different parts of the body.

The best part is that this Slide-tags technique can be used with many other methods that scientists use to study cells. This means that we can learn even more about how our genes work and how our bodies are made up of different types of cells. It's like adding a new tool to the scientist's toolbox for studying cells.

Russell AJC., Weir JA., Nadaf NM., Shabet M., Kumar V., Kambhampati S., Raichur R., Marrero GJ., Liu S., Balderrama KS., Vanderburg CR., Shanmugam V., Tian L., Iorgulescu JB., Yoon CH., Wu CJ., Macosko EZ., Chen F. Slide-tags enables single-nucleus barcoding for multimodal spatial genomics. Nature. 2024 Jan;625(7993):101-109. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06837-4. Epub 2023 Dec 13.