The future of medicine is being shaped at the intersection of spatial biology and artificial intelligence—and 10x Genomics is leading the charge. In this special dialogue by BioPharma APAC, Serge Saxonov, CEO and Co-founder of 10x Genomics, discusses the company’s landmark collaboration with A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) on the TISHUMAP initiative. From revolutionising spatial transcriptomics with the Xenium platform to tackling scalability, AI integration, and clinical readiness, Saxonov offers a glimpse into how large-scale, high-resolution data is unlocking new horizons in disease research and personalised medicine.
“Spatial Biology at Scale: 10x Genomics CEO Serge Saxonov on Redefining Precision Medicine with TISHUMAP”
07 August 2025 | Thursday | Interaction
10x Genomics’ collaboration with A*STAR GIS on the TISHUMAP initiative signals a new era in AI-powered spatial biology, transforming drug discovery and clinical diagnostics.
What motivated 10x Genomics to partner with A*STAR GIS on the TISHUMAP initiative, and how does this align with your long-term vision for spatial biology?
We partnered with GIS because we share the same vision and because we have a deep respect for the capabilities that GIS has developed. Our ultimate goal is to transform how the world discovers and develops new diagnostics and medicines.
TISHUMAP is exactly the kind of breakthrough application we envisioned for Xenium – large-scale spatial analysis on clinical tissues to discover clinically actionable biology. By mapping thousands of tissue samples with AI, we’re helping uncover insights that were previously out of reach, accelerating discovery of new drug targets and new biomarkers to treat the most challenging of diseases.
We believe TISHUMAP will become a model for how biopharma companies can use spatial biology to move faster, with greater confidence, toward transformative therapies.
How does the Xenium platform redefine what’s possible in spatial transcriptomics, and what breakthroughs do you anticipate it unlocking through this collaboration?
We believe the future of clinical spatial biology will be built on large-scale, high-resolution data sets from real patient samples and that Xenium's unrivaled performance will lead this transformation. By enabling subcellular resolution at scale, we will be able to more deeply understand what genes and cells to target, and discover new biomarkers to predict and monitor disease. The TISHUMAP study is a powerful example of what is possible.
This kind of work would have been science fiction a few years ago, but now Xenium is used routinely in hundreds of labs around the world. At the same time this is just the beginning. Our customers are continuously increasing how much they use their systems – and TISHUMAP is paving the way to even greater scale and impact.
With AI playing a central role in this project, how is 10x integrating machine learning into its platforms to drive faster, more precise discoveries?
We believe spatial biology and AI are the twin engines of the next era in precision medicine, and Xenium is built to lead that transformation. AI works best when it’s given large amounts of robust high quality data. At the same time, Xenium’s value increases exponentially when its high-quality data can be used to generate insights, which AI methods are particularly well suited for.
In the short term, the primary applications of AI in Xenium stem from producing massive quantities of high-quality, precise spatial omics data. Our systems use sophisticated algorithms to deliver precise measurements of single molecules and individual cells across thousands of genes across many kinds of tissues. In the case of TISHUMAP, we are working with GIS to co-develop intelligent software pipelines for efficient management and analysis of large datasets generated by the Xenium platform to derive insights from this incredibly rich data.
What are some of the biggest scientific or operational challenges in scaling spatial omics to thousands of clinical samples, and how is 10x addressing them?
Scaling spatial omics to thousands of clinical samples has historically been so laborious as to be essentially impractical. Xenium was designed to overcome these challenges with increased throughput and robust workflows and analytics.
At 10x, we go beyond building instruments. We see ourselves as a partner in scientific discovery, supporting researchers tackle these challenges head-on.
With the TISHUMAP collaboration, we helped streamline the lab workflows, develop protocols for scaling up sample preparation, and are optimizing logistics and data analysis. And as mentioned earlier, all the data produced by Xenium for a large-scale study will require robust software pipelines. We are building that with GIS, with an aim of automating the discovery of signaling interactions without extensive manual work.
Beyond cancer and inflammatory diseases, what future applications do you foresee for spatial biology in reshaping diagnostics and personalised medicine?
Spatial Biology is a fundamental general purpose technology. It brings together large-scale measurements of molecules, cells and tissues – the three key elements of biology – in a single analysis. Because of this we expect it to be critically enabling across many different applications.
Spatial biology is particularly well suited for translational research and clinical work, because the approach is closely compatible with standard pathology, while delivering a much greater depth of insight. We are excited about the potential of Xenium to transform pathology.
Ultimately, any condition where you'd consider taking a sample of a tissue should be a great application for Xenium – whether it’s for cancer, fibrosis, infection, or inflammation. We anticipate a world where every tissue sample will ultimately be analyzed with spatial.
How do collaborations like TISHUMAP reflect 10x’s broader strategy to move from enabling discovery to directly influencing clinical and therapeutic decision-making?
From the very beginning, our vision has included clinical applications. Our customers are constantly innovating, looking for how these technologies can be adopted in the clinic. There's a lot of work needed on the translational side to prepare for those future uses, and while Xenium is robust enough to be used at scale, it’s still a relatively new technology that we continue making more accessible for researchers.
The evolution of technologies into the clinic often starts from large-scale studies like TISHUMAP to find biomarker signatures for diagnostics, prediction of response or for therapy selection. With Xenium especially, there’s a big wave of new studies coming that will build the evidence base for our customers to pursue these approaches in the clinic.
That's our job; we have a responsibility to enable our customers to make those discoveries.
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