TissUUmaps 3: Improvements in interactive visualization, exploration, and quality assessment of large-scale spatial omics data
Nicolas Pielawski, Axel Andersson, Christophe Avenel, Andrea Beháňová, Eduard Chelebian, Anna H. Klemm, Fredrik Nysjö, Leslie Solorzano, Carolina Wählby
Abstract
Background and objectives Spatially resolved techniques for exploring the molecular landscape of tissue samples, such as spatial transcriptomics, often result in millions of data points and images too large to view on a regular desktop computer, limiting the possibilities in visual interactive data exploration. TissUUmaps is a free, open-source browser-based tool for GPU-accelerated visualization and interactive exploration of 10 7 + data points overlaying tissue samples. Methods Herein we describe how TissUUmaps 3 provides instant multiresolution image viewing and can be customized, shared, and also integrated into Jupyter Notebooks. We introduce new modules where users can visualize markers and regions, explore spatial statistics, perform quantitative analyses of tissue morphology, and assess the quality of decoding in situ transcriptomics data. Results We show that thanks to targeted optimizations the time and cost associated with interactive data exploration were reduced, enabling TissUUmaps 3 to handle the scale of today's spatial transcriptomics methods. Conclusion TissUUmaps 3 provides significantly improved performance for large multiplex datasets as compared to previous versions. We envision TissUUmaps to contribute to broader dissemination and flexible sharing of largescale spatial omics data.