seqFISH+ captures – Chee-Huat Linus Eng, 34, is reshaping spatial genomics by building technologies that capture where cells are acting—reading genetic activity from RNA transcripts in their original tissue context. After earning a doctorate in chemistry at the California Institu
When Chee-Huat Linus Eng talks about what he does, he starts with a question that sounds almost personal: how do you catch a cell doing something in the exact moment it’s doing it—without pulling it out of its neighborhood first?
Eng, 34, is a molecular genomics researcher whose career has been guided by that curiosity since childhood in Klang, Malaysia. Long before he had the tools to measure genes, he was already fixated on the “hows of life,” beginning with an early interest in how vitamin C impacts skin cells.
After completing a doctorate in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. Eng moved into a field built around a tougher promise: not just to read a cell’s genetic activity. but to read it in situ—while it remains in its native tissue environment. That approach is central to spatial genomics.
The work hinges on a molecular trail. A cell’s genetic activity is recorded in RNA transcripts—copies of the information encoded by a particular gene sequence. Together, the different types of RNA transcripts make up a cell’s transcriptome. Scientists can already capture a transcriptome for a single cell isolated from surrounding tissue. Eng and his Caltech colleagues wanted something more faithful to biology: capturing the same information while the cell remained in place.
As vice president of R&D at Spatial Genomics, Eng focuses on this deceptively simple goal—capturing a cell’s genetic activity at a specific point in time, and doing it across the spatial landscape of tissue.
His most recent breakthrough is seqFISH+, a technology based on sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization. With seqFISH+, researchers use fluorescent probes to detect specific proteins and other molecules. The payoff is the ability to capture an entire transcriptome—tens of thousands of genes—and to observe how their expression changes depending on context. Eng’s work describes how researchers can see these changes as cells are positioned near a cancer cell or an immune cell.
Caltech adviser Long Cai credits Eng with contributions that have moved the field forward in a way that’s more than incremental. Cai says Eng’s “transformative contributions” to spatial genomics have “fundamentally changed how scientists visualize and understand cellular biology.” He points to the “versatility and broad applicability” of Eng’s method. saying it can help elucidate what cells are doing in ways useful across many areas. including developmental biology. neuroscience. cancer research. immunology. and microbiology.
Eng’s own view is direct: “Any field requiring a spatial map of gene expression stands to benefit from this technology.”
Chee-Huat Linus Eng spatial genomics seqFISH+ molecular genomics transcriptome RNA transcripts in situ hybridization fluorescence probes cancer research immunology neuroscience developmental biology microbiology
So like cells are “talking” now? Kinda wild.
I read “spatial genomics” and immediately thought it was just AI mapping DNA in 3D or whatever. If they can really capture RNA in the exact moment, that’s huge, but I’m confused why they needed new tech instead of just… looking under a microscope?
Wait so this guy from Caltech makes cells speak in place, but does that mean he can tell what your cells are doing like at home? Because I saw a headline that sounded like you could diagnose stuff instantly. Also “vitamin C impacts skin cells” is the only part I got.
seqFISH+ sounds like something you download lol. They keep saying “in situ” like everyone knows what that means. But if it’s just reading RNA transcripts, isn’t that the same basic idea as before? Not trying to be negative, just feels like a rebrand of single-cell stuff with a fancy name, and now they’re calling it cells speaking.