Description

22/04/2025 - Symposium “New advances in single cell research”

Organiser: Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Department of Diagnostic Sciences and SIngle cell Network in Ghent (SING) 

Location: FSVM I building, seminar room, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Zwijnaarde, or livestream via MS Teams

Please also register to receive the MS Teams weblink for the livestream of this lecture.

13:05 - 13:50: Prof. dr. Bart Deplancke (keynote speaker, IHMS), Laboratory of Systems Biology and Genetics, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

Title: Advancing biology through single cell phenomics

Abstract: In my presentation, I will discuss recent advancements from our laboratory in single-cell phenomic analysis technologies. These include: 1) IRIS ("Interconnecting a Robotic Image of a cell to its scRNA-seq profile"), a novel and unpublished technology that pairs the transcriptomic fingerprint of a single cell with its high-resolution image. I will present proof-of-concept examples demonstrating how IRIS provides an unprecedented opportunity to: i) Leverage machine learning to uncover the molecular determinants of single-cell phenotypes and vice versa, contributing to an integrated understanding of cellular function and structure; and ii) transform clinical practices through paired single-cell imaging and transcriptomics. 2) scTF-seq, an approach for quantifying transcriptomic changes based on transcription factor dosage in single cells, offering insights into cell fate determination and the heterogeneity underlying cellular reprogramming. And 3) Live-seq (time permitting), a methodology for extracting single-cell transcriptomes without compromising cell viability, enabling temporal analyses of cellular responses and bridging the gap between transcriptomic profiling and functional behavior over time. These breakthroughs significantly enhance our ability to unravel complex biological processes at the single-cell level with high precision and temporal resolution. As such, they hold broad implications for gene regulation, cellular reprogramming, and developmental biology, opening new avenues for research and therapeutic strategies.

13:50 - 14:10: Lize Allonsius: Multiomics immune profiling of a patient-relevant orthotopic lung cancer model using Separate-seq

14:10 - 14:30: Loïc Schrooyen: Impaired antigen presentation and TGF-β signaling fosters TH17 differentiation in the gut of PLWH under ART

14:30 - 14:50: Emin Araftpoor & Tine D'hamers: Low input and single-cell proteomics are maturing to address biological questions / Nano-CUT&Tag: a single-cell multimodal epigenetic profiling technique opening doors in multiple research fields

14:50 - 15u30: coffee

15:30 - 15:50: Svitlana Lukicheva: Improved gene prioritization in crops using single-cell gene regulatory networks and text mining

15:50 - 16:10: Wouter Saelens: Multiplexed in vivo intercellular perturbational omics of the Kupffer cell niche

16:10 - 17:00: Prof. dr. Irene Papatheodorou (keynote speaker, IHMS), Eerlham Institute, Norwich, UK

Title: Learning from single cell atlases

Abstract: In my talk I will discuss insights we can learn from whole body or tissue specific cell atlases. First, I will present advancements in leveraging cell atlases to learn disease trajectories from larger disease cohorts or understand tissue microenvironment. Then, I will focus on using whole body cell atlas data to understand functional similarities and differences cross-species, across evolutionary distances. I will discuss how this information can help us test the orthologue conjecture. Throughout the talk I will highlight computational tools, workflows, as well as strengths and limitations of the different analyses or datasets.