Center for Neuroregeneration Lecture Series Houston Methodist Academic Institute Visit

Image-based approaches to single-cell transcriptomics offer the exciting ability to define and discover cell types and states while mapping their organization within intact tissues. Jeffrey Moffitt, PhD, will describe a leading image-based spatial transcriptomics technique—multiplexed error robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH)—capable of imaging and identifying thousands of different mRNA molecules within intact tissue slices. Moffitt will also discuss the recent work of his laboratory when applying MERFISH at the interface between the gut microbiome and the mammalian GI tract. He will specifically describe how MERFISH has provided new insights into how the gut senses microbial activity and, in turn, is shaped by the presence of the microbiome; MERFISH has revealed the cellular and spatial remodeling that happens when the barrier between host and microbe breaks down, and the gut is inflamed; and gut bacteria adapt their gene expression to micron-scale niches within the gut.