- Park, Young-Gyun;
- Sohn, Chang Ho;
- Chen, Ritchie;
- McCue, Margaret;
- Yun, Dae Hee;
- Drummond, Gabrielle T;
- Ku, Taeyun;
- Evans, Nicholas B;
- Oak, Hayeon Caitlyn;
- Trieu, Wendy;
- Choi, Heejin;
- Jin, Xin;
- Lilascharoen, Varoth;
- Wang, Ji;
- Truttmann, Matthias C;
- Qi, Helena W;
- Ploegh, Hidde L;
- Golub, Todd R;
- Chen, Shih-Chi;
- Frosch, Matthew P;
- Kulik, Heather J;
- Lim, Byung Kook;
- Chung, Kwanghun
Understanding complex biological systems requires the system-wide characterization of both molecular and cellular features. Existing methods for spatial mapping of biomolecules in intact tissues suffer from information loss caused by degradation and tissue damage. We report a tissue transformation strategy named stabilization under harsh conditions via intramolecular epoxide linkages to prevent degradation (SHIELD), which uses a flexible polyepoxide to form controlled intra- and intermolecular cross-link with biomolecules. SHIELD preserves protein fluorescence and antigenicity, transcripts and tissue architecture under a wide range of harsh conditions. We applied SHIELD to interrogate system-level wiring, synaptic architecture, and molecular features of virally labeled neurons and their targets in mouse at single-cell resolution. We also demonstrated rapid three-dimensional phenotyping of core needle biopsies and human brain cells. SHIELD enables rapid, multiscale, integrated molecular phenotyping of both animal and clinical tissues.