Researchers Unveil Spain’s First Finish-to-Finish Spatial Omics Platform

IRB Barcelona launched Spain’s first fully integrated Spatial Omics Platform, a facility equipped to provide an end-to-end workflow for researchers, clinical institutions, and industry partners.

When scientists look through a microscope, they often see cells in isolation: either frozen in time within a thin slice of tissue or removed entirely from the environment they once called home. These views offer important clues about what a cell is and what it contains.

But there is more to the story. These methods can’t fully reveal how cells communicate with their neighbors, respond to signals, or organize within complex biological structures. Now, advances and emerging spatial technologies preserve this critical context: the location of cells within tissues, how they interact with neighboring cells, and how they respond to their surrounding microenvironment.

Recognizing the growing importance of these technologies, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona sought to establish an initiative with an end-to-end workflow, from sample preparation to computational analysis. Over two years, researchers at the institute developed a unified pipeline, bringing together five of its nine core facilities—spatial genomics, spatial proteomics, histopathology, advanced microscopy, and bioinformatics—under one coordinated infrastructure.

In early February 2026, IRB Barcelona announced Spain’s first fully integrated Spatial Omics Platform. In Spain, there are a few centers that offer spatial transcriptomic technologies, but they are isolated from one another. “No one was actually providing that comprehensive service portfolio of having all the technologies together,” said Sílvia Álvarez, the director of technology strategy and core facilities at IRB Barcelona. She described that the vision for this platform is to “create [a] service here for our research community and to also stay at the forefront [of research].”

To realize this goal, IRB Barcelona invested in the latest spatial transcriptomics and spatial proteomics technologies, alongside advanced image analysis and bioinformatics capabilities. A key element of the coordinated workflow involved a shadowing program in which each facility followed projects through the pipeline to ensure continuity and integration.

Álvarez noted that this approach strengthens collaboration across facilities and fosters a stronger internal community. In addition, “This [platform] is open to everybody,” she said. “One of our aims is bringing these technologies closer to the scientific community.” She added that while the initiative is rooted in fundamental research, it also holds the potential to advance clinical research and its applications.

Beyond availability, accessibility is also a priority. Spatial technologies can be prohibitively expensive, and IRB Barcelona plans to work with different funding agencies to help make these services more affordable for researchers.

With this infrastructure in place, IRB Barcelona hopes to support the rapidly expanding field of spatial biology, contributing to advances in biomedical research and progress toward precision medicine.