This webinar explores how a biology-first approach to spatial bioinformatics enables biopharma teams move from raw spatial data to results they can trust.
Spatial bioinformatics has the potential to provide powerful insights into tissue biology; but reliable insight does not necessarily follow from seemingly sophisticated analysis. Attractive plots and complex datasets matter only if the findings can be traced back to the underlying tissue and interpreted within the biological context of the study.
Our Lead Bioinformatician Jack McMurray and CSO Kelly Hunter will explain how visual quality control, platform-agnostic analysis, and biology-led interpretation can improve the reliability and relevance of spatial research.
1. What is Spatial Bioinformatics?
Spatial bioinformatics is an umbrella term that brings together image analysis, data science, and molecular biology to understand how cells and tissues are organised. We will introduce how these methodologies can transform complex spatial datasets into biologically meaningful outputs.
2. Start with the biology, not the assay
The strongest spatial studies start with the biological question, rather than simply the assay that will generate the most data. We will discuss why early involvement of bioinformaticians can improve study design and ensure the analysis generates relevant and targeted outputs.
3. “Human in the loop”: elevating the ‘bio’ in bioinformatics
AI and machine learning can accelerate data analysis, but automated outputs still require scientific oversight. We will explore how Propath take a scientist-first approach to bioinformatics, using expert review to recognise artefacts, challenge unexpected findings, and ensure results remain biologically plausible.
4. If you can’t see it, should you trust it?
Spatial findings should always be traceable back to the underlying tissue. We will explore how iterative visual quality control can refine segmentation boundaries, cell classification, and downstream analysis, ensuring confidence in the results.
5. Looking beyond standard software outputs
Standard software outputs are often only the starting point for spatial analysis. We will explore how bespoke, platform-agnostic approaches can answer study-specific questions and uncover biological insights that may be missed by default workflows.
6. From discovery to translation: building scalable analyses
As spatial approaches move from exploratory research towards translational and clinical applications, expectations around robustness, reproducibility, and traceability increase. We will discuss how analytical workflows can support this transition while retaining the flexibility to address study-specific questions.
Who should attend?
This webinar is for spatial biology teams, translational scientists, biomarker leads, clinical development teams, bioinformaticians, biotech executives, and pharma decision-makers involved in planning or evaluating spatial transcriptomics studies.
Why attend?
Join this Propath webinar to understand the value of human-in-the-loop approaches to spatial bioinformatics, the importance of iterative quality control, and how Propath can take your analyses from discovery to translation and provide biological insight you can trust.
Jack McMurray works as a Lead Bioinformatician at Propath UK, specializing in bioinformatics, digital image analysis, and cancer immunology.
Kelly Hunter is Chief Scientific Officer at Propath UK, where he leads the company’s scientific strategy and development of advanced spatial biology services across spatial proteomics, spatial transcriptomics, multiplex immunofluorescence and single-cell spatial analysis. With substantial experience in implementing and commercialising cutting-edge tissue profiling technologies, Kelly works closely with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to design translational research and biomarker strategies that generate meaningful, decision-ready data from limited clinical samples. His expertise spans complex assay development, custom high-plex panel design, spatial multiomics workflows and the integration of robust bioinformatics to translate rich tissue data into actionable biological insight. At Propath, Kelly helps clients apply responsive, GCP-compliant spatial biology solutions to support mechanism-of-action studies, biomarker discovery, clinical trial delivery and confident decision-making across the drug development pipeline.
Dave Swatman leads Propath’s commercial operations and strategic partnerships. He has extensive experience supporting pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies through outsourced pathology and translational research services and has played a key role in the commercial launch of Propath’s spatial biology capabilities.
