High-Plex Immunocytochemistry Core
Major Core Instrument / Services
The Core utilizes the Akoya PhenoCycler-Fusion to enable high-plex spatial phenotyping of whole tissue slides at single-cell resolution.
Akoya PhenoCycler-Fusion
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80+ antibodies optimized on human FFPE tissue.
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35+ antibodies optimized on mouse FFPE tissue.
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See current antibody lists below.
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Interested in using fresh-frozen tissue? Please email us.
Core Highlights
In August 2023, the Core’s first publication using the technology to characterize tumor immune microenvironment changes in patients from a University of Michigan clinical trial that utilized a multi-pronged immunotherapy approach for the treatment of glioblastoma was published in The Lancet Oncology (Umemura Y, Orringer D, Junck L, Varela ML, West MEJ, Faisal SM, Comba A, Heth J, Sagher O, Leung D, Mammoser A, Hervey-Jumper S, Zamler D, Yadav VN, Dunn P, Al-Holou W, Hollon T, Kim MM, Wahl DR, Camelo-Piragua S, Lieberman AP, Venneti S, McKeever P, Lawrence T, Kurokawa R, Sagher K, Altshuler D, Zhao L, Muraszko K, Castro MG, Lowenstein PR. Combined cytotoxic and immune-stimulatory gene therapy for primary adult high-grade glioma: a phase 1, first-in-human trial. Lancet Oncol. 2023 Sep;24(9):1042-1052. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(23)00347-9.). The results demonstrate the power of our workflow, which utilizes conventional tissue slides to map numerous cell types in space. Combining protein expression data with spatial context allows you to explore new frontiers in single cell spatial analysis, like changes in cell neighborhoods and cell-cell interactions between experimental groups.
In late 2024, the Core expanded their human FFPE antibody offerings to include the PhenoCode Discovery IO60 Human Protein Panel.
As of early 2025, the Core is officially open and accepting project inquiries! Please email us at highplexiccore@umich.edu.
To test the feasibility of offering high-plex immunocytochemistry as a core to the UM research community, we tested our workflow on prostate cancer samples from the Alumkal Lab.
Pictured to the right is a biopsy imaged with the PhenoCycler-Fusion with the following subset of markers shown: Vimentin (green), Pan-cytokeratin (yellow), Ki67 (red), CD68 (blue), SOX2 (pink) and HIF1a (orange).
Publications Featuring High-Plex Immunocytochemistry Core Data
Our High-Plex Immunocytochemistry Core Researchers
Molly West
Research Lab Specialist Senior, Manager of Multiplex Immunocytochemistry Core Contact Information:meethm@med.umich.eduMolly West is the manager of the High-Plex Immunocytochemistry Core and a Research Lab Specialist developing workflows for the acquisition and analysis of multiplex immunofluorescence images from the Akoya PhenoCycler-Fusion. Prior to her work with the Castro-Lowenstein Laboratory, Molly was a senior laboratory technician at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory & University of Wyoming Biocontainment Facility working on pathogen sequencing and genomics. She holds a BS and MS in Biology from University of Michigan and Bowling Green State University, respectively.
Pedro Lowenstein
Richard C. Schneider Collegiate Professor of Neurosurgery,Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology,
Director of High-Plex Immunocytochemistry Core
Contact Information:pedrol@med.umich.edu
The focus of my research program is to discover the cellular, molecular, and neuroanatomical basis underlying the growth patterns of malignant brain tumors, and the interactions between cancer cells with the tumor microenvironment, in both experimental models and in human patients suffering from malignant brain tumors. To do so, we are probing how brain glioma cells migrate throughout the brain and eventually kill the hosts’ neurons and glial cells. Understanding the precise molecular basis of glioma tumor cell growth and invasive behavior will uncover novel therapeutic targets aiming at inactivating the essential mechanisms used by tumors to grow and destroy normal brain tissue and, thus, kill the host. We are studying very early stages of tumor pattern formation using fluorescently labeled glioma cells in combination with advanced in vivo multiphoton imaging technologies. The new information will lead to the development of novel therapeutics for malignant glioma. We have focused on understanding the mechanisms by which the common glioma matrix protein Collagen I modulates tumor and immune function. My lab is also investigating how the interactions of collagen with the specific collagen receptor LAIR-1 modulate glioma malignant behavior, and the complex interactions of the ECM with infiltrating immune cells.
Anzar Abdul Mujeeb
Postdoctoral Fellow, High-Plex Immunocytochemistry Core Contact Information:amujeeb@med.umich.eduDr. Anzar Abdul Mujeeb completed his B.S in Biochemistry from AMU, Aligarh, India. He continued his education at Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU, India, first with an M.S in Biotechnology under the supervision of Prof. Asad U Khan, followed by a Ph.D. in Molecular Immunology under the supervision of Prof. M. Owais, investigating the role of cytokines in establishment and survival of intracellular pathogen in the host. He was awarded Research fellowships in Life Science by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India, and Dept. of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India, India.
Anzar joined the Castro-Lowenstein team in January 2021 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to study the pro and anti-tumor mechanisms mediated by genes involved in autophagy, DNA damage repair (DDR), and immune mechanisms of gliomas. Currently, he is working on neuro immuno-oncology which involves uncovering the role of the mIDH1, CXCR4/CXCL12, and DDR signaling in glioma. His goal is to establish the basis of a new treatment regimen for gliomas based on manipulating the immune, DNA damage repair, and autophagic mechanisms in glioma, leading to novel immunotherapeutic approaches which could be translated into the clinical trials.