# ShEEP Request for NanoString GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiling System

> **NIH VA IS1** · VETERANS AFFAIRS MED CTR SAN FRANCISCO · 2023 · —

## Abstract

This application is to acquire a GeoMx™ Digital Spatial Profiler System (NanoString Technology, Inc.) on
behalf of the BLRD/CSRD FRACTURE CURB Collaborative Merit Review Program (CMRP) and the San
Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) Skeletal Biology and Biomechanics (SBB) Core facility, which was
originally established in 2003 through funding of BLRD Research Enhancement Award Program and later a
BLRD Program Project. This core is also one of 3 core facilities in the NIH (P30) Core Center for
Musculoskeletal Biology and Medicine (CCMBM). This self-reliant Core had supported basic and translational
research for more than 100 VA, NIH, and DoD-funded projects in endocrinology, orthopedics surgery,
neurobiology, nephrology, radiology, pulmonology, dermatology, immunology, and cardiothoracic surgery,
and enabled numerous new collaborative projects within the greater UCSF research community and more
recently nationwide VA stations. This Core has been designated in 2022 as the Molecular and Histological
Core for the newly awarded FRACTURE CURB CMRP, which includes 5 independent skeleton-centric Merit
Review projects across 4 VA stations.
 Comprehensive transcriptomic and proteomic profiling techniques are essential for understanding of
changes in transcriptional and translational regulation, respectively, in tissues subjected to diseases, drug
treatments, or genetical manipulations. Advances in high-throughput ensemble or single-cell RNA sequencing
and liquid chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (LC-MS) for tissues or isolated cells have filled some of these
technical gaps. However, latter technologies lack resolution to delineate spatial effects and cell-specific
actions on gene expression that have been proven critical in regulations of cellular functions at cellular and/or
molecular levels. To overcome the latter pitfalls, the SFVAMC-SBB core successfully installed a state-of-the-
art GeoMx™ DSP System in 2021 to permit high-throughput in situ proteomic and transcriptomic profiling in
tissue sections in a spatially-defined and cell type-specific manner. After several months of intensive protocol
development and testing, the DSP proteomic and whole transcriptomic assay (WTA) profiling service were
sequentially rolled out to local VA and UCSF community in late 2021. Initial responses to the soft opening of
these new services have been overwhelming. In the past 12 months, we have successfully completed 60
DSP assays. Some of the results have been used as preliminary data for grant applications, including 5
awarded Merit Reviews under the FRACTURE CURB CMRP and 3 NIH applications which have recently
received fundable scores (based on 2022 institutional paylines). Given the initial successes, requests for the
DSP services have substantially increased in the Fall of 2022 as such that the service backlog has been
extended to 6-8 weeks for the current projects in the queue. We anticipate the project turnaround time will be
further lengthened when the studies pr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10741001
- **Project number:** 1IS1BX006330-01
- **Recipient organization:** VETERANS AFFAIRS MED CTR SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Wenhan Chang
- **Activity code:** IS1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-03-01 → 2023-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10741001

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10741001, ShEEP Request for NanoString GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiling System (1IS1BX006330-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10741001. Licensed CC0.

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