CBM Seminar Series – Spatial Visual Proteomics

The College of Biomedicine was pleased to host Professor Ruijun Tian from the Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Southern University of Science and Technology, as a distinguished speaker in the CBM Seminar Series on 9 March 2026. Professor Tian's research focuses on the development and application of mass spectrometry-based proteomics technologies to study complex biological systems, particularly intercellular signaling within the tumor microenvironment.

In his talk entitled "Spatial Visual Proteomics", Professor Tian discussed recent advances in spatial multi-omics technologies, which enable the systematic discovery of biomolecules with spatial resolution. While spatial transcriptomics has been widely applied to investigate tissue heterogeneity, Professor Tian noted that spatial proteomics has lagged behind due to technical challenges, including limited tissue sample amounts and the high sensitivity required for LC-MS analysis.

Professor Tian presented his team's development of an integrated proteomics sample preparation platform, SISPROT, capable of efficiently processing nanogram-level tissue slices for protein digestion, peptide desalting, and TMT labeling. By combining this technology with multi-color immunohistochemical imaging, proximity labeling, and automated laser capture microdissection, his team achieved high-sensitivity spatial proteomic analysis of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues. He further demonstrated the application of these approaches to investigate the tumor microenvironment of pancreatic cancer with high cellular heterogeneity.

The seminar stimulated active discussion and highlighted the growing importance of spatially resolved proteomic technologies in advancing the understanding of complex tissue biology and tumor microenvironments.