GHGA at the de.NBI/ELIXIR-Germany Spatial Hackathon

As the field of spatially resolved transcriptomics experiences a surge in growth, the importance of community-driven benchmarking becomes evident. The de.NBI/ELIXIR-Germany Spatial Hackathon SpaceHack took place from December 11th to 15th, 2023 and brought together experts in the field to collaborate on computational tools, reference datasets, and evaluation metrics. Two members from the GHGA workflow workstream participated in this event to contribute to the community-driven benchmarking initiatives which also involved the OMNIBENCHMARK platform.

GHGAs primary focus during the BioHackathon was set to delve into reference datasets spanning various technologies (e.g. Xenium) and tissues (e.g. breast cancer) and explore evaluation measures, including both established metrics and novel metrics with a focus on qualitative interpretation.

GHGA recognized the significance of community-driven benchmarking, and our active involvement in the OMNIBENCHMARK platform aligned with this commitment. By collaborating with other experts, we aimed to contribute to the development of a robust framework for evaluating spatially resolved transcriptomics tools. The communities managed to implement several datasets, methods, and metrics during the SpaceHack, which was an immense success during these few days.

The GHGA team's participation in the SpaceHack underscores our commitment to advancing spatially resolved transcriptomics research. By actively contributing to the community benchmarking initiative, the team fostered collaboration, innovation, and the development of reliable tools that will benefit researchers and scientists across the globe.