01/08/2024. Dr Denis Schapiro and his team at Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) are working on digital image analysis. This involves capturing and analysing high-dimensional image information from tissues.

© HiGHDiBi
Team (f.l.t.r.): Aroj Hada, Victor Perez, Krešimir Beštak, Miguel Ibarra-Arellano, Denis Schapiro, Lukas Hatscher, Chiara Schiller, Margot Chazotte, Florian Wünnemann. Photo: Erika Schulz

What specific research interest are you pursuing with your Junior Research Group (JRG)?

Denis Schapiro, JRG-Leader: "My junior research group combines computational biology, quantitative biomedicine and novel imaging technologies (Spatial Omics) to discover new features for stratification, diagnosis and treatment of various neoplastic diseases."

What specific research interest motivated you to become part of a junior research group?

Miguel Ibarra-Arellano, PhD student: "The opportunity to develop high-quality, accessible tools and platforms that can map the spatial distribution and interactions of biomolecules within tissues is incredibly exciting to me. These tools offer insights that were previously unattainable, allowing us to better understand disease progression and identify potential treatment targets."

Wie würdest du deine Forschungsarbeit für jemanden beschreiben, der nicht damit vertraut ist?

Chiara Schiller, PhD student: "I study how human tissues are organized in health and disease to understand cellular interactions and their environments. For example, in tumors, we examine interactions between cancer cells and immune cells. This research can help predict disease progression and tailor personalized treatments."

Was war bisher das spannendste Ergebnis in deiner Arbeit im Rahmen der NWG?

Margot Chazotte, PhD student: "I got the chance to analyze highly multiplexed imaging data of a newly discovered salivary gland that had not been described before. We get to be the first people to investigate this novel gland in detail with state of the art methods."

Reading tip: 

Wünnemann and Sicklinger et al. (2024): “Spatial omics of acute myocardial infarction reveals a novel mode of immune cell infiltration”.


In this study, transcript-based and antibody-based spatial omics methods are combined to elucidate inflammation processes after myocardial infarction in mice. The study showcases the high level of detail that can be obtained by integrating different data modalities to study disease 
progression in space and time.

 To the overview of the junior research groups