Metabolite Reference Standards to Normalize Spatial Metabolomics Across Tissue Sections

Advances in spatial metabolomic analysis of tissue biopsies using MALDI-MSI now enable the identification of numerous biochemical pathways as signatures of specific histopathology features. However, the lack of reproducibility across experimental studies without a common internal standard limits the application of MALDIMSI for drug development. SygnaMap is developing MSI-DeepPath as an innovative computational platform with quantitative normalization to analyze the rich data arising from spatial metabolomics for therapeutic targets and biomarker discovery for drug development. Extracting the most robust disease-relevant biomarkers and pathways from spatial omics platforms will require the development of calibration standards for robust statistical analysis. SygnaMap proposes to address this major challenge by applying reference metabolite standards to spatial metabolomics to reduce batch effect and enhance reproducibility across samples to optimize robust interpretation and meet the rigor required by the industry. MSI-DeepPath will thus enable full interrogation of spatial metabolomics data for new therapeutic targets and biomarker discovery for multiple chronic diseases.