Prostate cancer is not a single disease. Even within a single patient, multiple tumor foci can coexist in the same gland — each driven by distinct oncogenic alterations, expressing different biomarker profiles, and carrying different implications for prognosis and treatment response. This intratumoral and multifocal heterogeneity is one of the central reasons why prostate cancer has proven so difficult to classify, treat, and monitor with conventional molecular methods. A new webinar from Bio-Techne addresses this challenge directly, demonstrating how RNAscope™ spatial multiomics technology enables researchers and clinicians to map biomarker diversity, identify distinct oncogenic drivers, and decode clonal architecture within intact prostate tumor tissue.
About the Webinar
Title: Resolve Oncology Biomarkers and Spatially Map Diversity in Prostate Cancer TME
Date: June 17, 2026
Time: 8:00 AM PDT / 11:00 AM EDT / 4:00 PM BST
Format: Virtual — Free registration required
Presented by: Bio-Techne Spatial
The Problem: Tumor Heterogeneity Defeats Single-Marker Approaches
The tumor microenvironment (TME) in prostate cancer is not a uniform mass of malignant cells — it is a complex, spatially organized ecosystem comprising tumor cells at various stages of progression, cancer-associated fibroblasts, immune infiltrates, vascular structures, and normal epithelial cells, all interacting with each other in ways that drive disease progression, therapeutic resistance, and immune evasion. Different regions of the same tumor can harbor cells with entirely different molecular identities, proliferative behaviors, and responses to treatment.
This complexity poses a fundamental problem for conventional biomarker analysis. Single-marker methods — those that measure one target at a time, or that profile expression across bulk tissue homogenates — are intrinsically incapable of capturing the spatial organization and molecular diversity that define how a tumor actually behaves. A bulk RNA sequencing experiment reports the average expression across all cells in the sample, masking the focal, region-specific signals that may be most clinically relevant. A single IHC stain reports the distribution of one protein, with no information about what other markers are expressed in the same cells or adjacent microenvironments.
The result is a persistent gap between the biological complexity of prostate tumors and the resolution of the methods used to characterize them — a gap that limits both scientific understanding and clinical decision-making.
RNAscope™: High-Sensitivity Spatial RNA Detection in Intact Tumor Tissue
RNAscope™ is a validated in situ hybridization platform developed by Bio-Techne that detects individual RNA molecules directly within intact tissue sections using a proprietary branched DNA signal amplification chemistry. Unlike bulk sequencing methods that require tissue dissociation, RNAscope™ preserves the complete cellular and architectural context of the tumor — enabling researchers to see not just which genes are expressed, but precisely where within the tissue that expression occurs, in which cells, and in what spatial relationship to surrounding structures and cell populations.
The platform delivers single-cell, single-molecule resolution across a wide range of tissue types and specimen formats, including formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) clinical specimens — the standard archival format for surgical pathology and tumor biobank material. This compatibility with clinical specimens is a critical practical advantage, enabling retrospective analysis of archived tumor samples from patient cohorts and clinical trials without requiring fresh or specially preserved material.
In the context of prostate cancer research, RNAscope™ enables several analytical capabilities that conventional methods cannot provide:
- Spatial mapping of biomarker expression: Visualize where specific RNA targets are expressed across the tumor section, identifying regional differences in molecular phenotype that correspond to distinct tumor zones, invasion fronts, or microenvironmental niches.
- Simultaneous multi-target profiling: Detect multiple RNA targets in the same section — tumor markers, immune markers, stromal markers — building a comprehensive molecular portrait of the TME without requiring serial sections or separate assay runs.
- Oncogenic driver identification: Map the spatial distribution of driver gene expression, including fusion transcripts, splice variants, and point mutations, within the tumor architecture to identify which cells carry which oncogenic alterations and how those cells are spatially organized relative to each other.
- Clonal architecture characterization: In multifocal prostate cancer — where multiple independent tumor foci coexist within the same gland — RNAscope™ enables the molecular characterization of each focus independently, revealing whether foci share a common clonal origin or represent distinct evolutionary lineages.
What the Webinar Will Cover
This session is built around the research of Dr. Nallasivam Palanisamy at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute, where RNAscope™ has been integrated into a spatial molecular pathology and biomarker discovery program focused on prostate cancer. Dr. Palanisamy’s work demonstrates how spatial multiomics resolves questions about tumor biology that conventional methods leave unanswered — and how those answers translate into improved molecular classification and diagnostic precision.
The webinar will address four specific research applications:
Mapping Spatial and Molecular Differences Across Tumor Regions
Prostate tumors are architecturally heterogeneous — different regions of the same tumor exhibit different Gleason grade patterns, different degrees of immune infiltration, different vascularity, and different levels of invasiveness. RNAscope™ enables the molecular characterization of these distinct regions within the same tissue section, correlating spatial location with molecular phenotype and building a spatially resolved map of tumor biology that reflects the true complexity of the disease.
This regional mapping is particularly relevant for understanding the relationship between tumor architecture and clinical behavior — for example, identifying which regions of a tumor are most likely to harbor treatment-resistant subclones, or which microenvironmental contexts are associated with immune exclusion versus infiltration.
Identifying Distinct Oncogenic Drivers Within the Same Tissue
One of the most compelling applications of spatial multiomics in prostate cancer is the simultaneous detection of distinct oncogenic drivers within a single tumor section. ETS gene fusions — particularly TMPRSS2:ERG — are among the most common somatic alterations in prostate cancer, present in approximately 50% of localized tumors. However, even within a single tumor, ETS fusion-positive and fusion-negative cells can coexist, occupying different spatial domains and potentially responding differently to targeted therapy.
RNAscope™ enables the direct visualization of ETS fusion transcripts and other oncogenic driver RNAs within tissue, allowing researchers to map which cells carry which alterations and how these molecularly distinct populations are distributed relative to each other and to the surrounding microenvironment. This spatial driver mapping provides a level of intratumoral resolution that bulk genomic methods cannot achieve.
Revealing Clonal Diversity in Multifocal Prostate Cancer
Multifocal prostate cancer — the presence of two or more spatially distinct tumor foci within the same prostate gland — is the rule rather than the exception in this disease, occurring in the majority of radical prostatectomy specimens. A central question for both research and clinical management is whether these multiple foci represent independent tumors that evolved separately or related clones derived from a common precursor cell.
This question has direct clinical implications: if the highest-grade focus is the one most likely to drive metastasis, understanding its clonal relationship to other foci may inform decisions about focal therapy, surveillance intensity, and systemic treatment. RNAscope™ enables the molecular characterization of individual tumor foci — their driver gene expression, biomarker profiles, and molecular subtype — within the spatial context of the full prostatectomy section, providing the data needed to address these clonal architecture questions directly in clinical specimens.
Improving Molecular Classification and Diagnostic Precision
Prostate cancer molecular subtypes — defined by features including ETS fusion status, SPOP mutation, CDK12 alteration, and other genomic and transcriptomic characteristics — have distinct biological behaviors, prognoses, and therapeutic vulnerabilities. Accurate molecular subtype classification has the potential to improve treatment selection, predict response to specific therapies, and stratify patients for clinical trial enrollment.
RNAscope™ spatial profiling improves on bulk classification methods by enabling subtype determination at the single-cell, spatially resolved level — identifying not just the dominant molecular subtype of a tumor but the spatial distribution of subtype-specific features within it. In heterogeneous tumors where multiple subtypes coexist, this spatial classification is more informative and more biologically accurate than a single averaged call derived from bulk tissue.
What Attendees Will Learn
The webinar is structured to provide both methodological education and specific scientific insights from Dr. Palanisamy’s research program. Attendees will gain understanding of:
- How to apply RNAscope™ for biomarker development and validation in oncology research, from assay design through data interpretation in clinical specimens
- Why single-marker methods are insufficient for characterizing heterogeneous tumors and what spatial multiomics adds to the analytical picture
- How spatial profiling improves understanding of tumor evolution — including how distinct clonal populations within a tumor are spatially organized and how they interact with each other and with the microenvironment
- How to map interactions across tumor microenvironments — characterizing the spatial relationships between tumor cells, immune populations, stromal cells, and vascular structures that drive progression and resistance
Featured Speakers
Nallasivam Palanisamy, MSc, MPhil, PhD — Associate Professor, Henry Ford Cancer Institute
Dr. Palanisamy is an Associate Professor at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute with deep expertise in prostate cancer genomics, molecular pathology, and spatial biology. His research program focuses on the molecular characterization of prostate tumors — including the identification and spatial mapping of ETS gene fusions, oncogenic drivers, and molecular subtypes — and on developing biomarker-based tools that improve diagnostic precision and treatment stratification for prostate cancer patients.
Dr. Palanisamy has integrated RNAscope™ into his research as a core platform for in situ biomarker validation and spatial molecular pathology. He describes the technology’s role in his program: “RNAscope is a robust and reproducible platform that performs reliably across a wide range of clinical specimens. It has been instrumental in validating key biomarkers, defining molecular subtypes, and supporting several of our peer-reviewed publications. The technology continues to be an essential component of our spatial molecular pathology and biomarker discovery.”
Anushka Dikshit, PhD — Senior Manager, Research & Product Applications, Bio-Techne Spatial
Dr. Dikshit leads research and product application development for Bio-Techne’s spatial biology portfolio. With deep expertise in the technical implementation and scientific application of RNAscope™ and related spatial multiomics technologies, she will provide methodological context for the research presented by Dr. Palanisamy and address practical questions about how RNAscope™ can be integrated into oncology research and translational programs.
Who Should Attend
This webinar is directly relevant for researchers and professionals working across:
- Prostate cancer research: Basic and translational scientists studying prostate tumor biology, molecular subtypes, oncogenic drivers, and therapeutic resistance mechanisms
- Spatial biology and molecular pathology: Researchers evaluating or already using spatial platforms who want to understand how RNAscope™ performs in clinical oncology applications
- Biomarker discovery and validation: Scientists developing companion diagnostic assays or prognostic biomarkers who need spatially resolved, clinically compatible methods
- Immuno-oncology: Researchers studying tumor-immune interactions, immune cell infiltration patterns, and the spatial determinants of checkpoint inhibitor response in solid tumors
- Clinical and translational oncology: Pathologists, clinicians, and clinical researchers interested in how spatial molecular profiling can improve diagnostic precision and molecular classification in prostate cancer
- Drug discovery and therapeutic development: Pharma and biotech teams developing targeted therapies for prostate cancer who need spatially resolved target expression data from clinical specimens to support program decisions
The Broader Context: Spatial Biology as a Standard in Oncology
The integration of spatial multiomics into oncology research represents a methodological maturation that is changing how the field understands tumor biology. As the limitations of bulk profiling methods have become better understood — and as spatial platforms like RNAscope™ have demonstrated their ability to reveal tumor biology that bulk methods cannot access — spatial analysis is increasingly being recognized as a necessary component of comprehensive oncology research programs rather than a specialized add-on.
In prostate cancer specifically, where intratumoral heterogeneity, multifocality, and the complexity of the tumor microenvironment are central biological and clinical challenges, spatial multiomics is positioned to make a lasting contribution — both to basic research understanding and to the development of more precise diagnostic and therapeutic tools. This webinar represents a concrete demonstration of what that contribution looks like in practice, grounded in the clinical specimen-based research of a leading prostate cancer molecular pathology program.