Cohort primer¶

In [1]:
slug = "human-colon"
release = "2026-10-28"
use_gpu = True
out_dir = "bundles"
smoke = 0
primers_ref = "feat-primers"
cohorts_path = None
catalog_path = None
representatives = 1
dev_note = ""
In [2]:
# Parameters
slug = "human-liver"
release = "2026-11-01"
out_dir = "bundles"
primers_ref = "4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070"
dev_note = ""

Human liver¶

Cohort human-liver, catalog release 2026-11-01.

This primer describes a cohort; it is not a benchmark. It does not rank papers, technologies or methods. The batch correction (Harmony on the section) is shown for orientation only: well-mixed embeddings are not proof of a correct biology. This cohort's technologies may also differ by paper and lab. Where one paper used one technology, a technology effect can't be separated from a paper effect.

The analysis below runs the primers package at a fixed reference. To install the same code:

pip install "sddb-primers @ git+https://github.com/theislab/spatialdata-db-client@4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070#subdirectory=primers"

Setup¶

The imports, and a helper that links each primers function to its source at the reference that ran.

In [5]:
import inspect
import json
import platform
import time

import anndata as ad
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import scanpy as sc
import spatialdata_plot  # noqa: F401  (registers the .pl accessor)
import zarr
from primers.cohort import hd_table, load_cohort, smoke_spec
from primers.embed import CAVEAT, MAX_FLOOR_LOSS, MIN_SHARED_GENES, N_HVG, N_NEIGHBORS, N_PCS, SEED, embed_views
from primers.export import export_bundle, mixing_by_view, with_qc_status
from primers.markers import load_markers, panel_id
from primers.qc import MIN_GENES_FOR_QC, apply_qc, load_thresholds, qc_floors
from spatialdata.transformations import get_transformation

import sddb
from sddb.remote import storage_options

start = time.time()
out_dir = Path(out_dir)
if use_gpu:
    import cupy as cp
    import rapids_singlecell as rsc
    import rmm
    from rmm.allocators.cupy import rmm_cupy_allocator

    rmm.reinitialize(managed_memory=True)
    cp.cuda.set_allocator(rmm_cupy_allocator)


def show_call(func, what):
    """Show what a primers function does and link its source at ``primers_ref``."""
    _, line = inspect.getsourcelines(func)
    module = func.__module__.split(".")[-1]
    url = f"{REPO}/blob/{primers_ref}/primers/primers/{module}.py#L{line}"
    display(Markdown(f"`{func.__module__}.{func.__name__}`: {what} [Source at `{primers_ref}`]({url})."))


def show_table(df, digits=3):
    """Display ``df`` rounded, with missing values written as n/a, and long text columns in full."""
    shown = df.round(digits).astype(object)
    with pd.option_context("display.max_colwidth", None):
        display(shown.where(df.notna(), "n/a"))


catalog = sddb.Catalog.from_file(catalog_path) if catalog_path else sddb.Catalog(version=release)

Query and cohort¶

The cohort is a stated catalog query, plus the uids it includes and minus the uids it excludes. The spec below is the one in cohorts.yaml.

In [6]:
if smoke:
    show_call(
        smoke_spec,
        "Keeps only the smallest kept member of each of a few papers, taken in turn from each family, for a "
        "quick end-to-end check.",
    )
    n_spec_excluded = len(spec.get("exclude_uids") or [])
    spec = smoke_spec(spec, catalog, smoke)
    print(
        f"Smoke run on {smoke} papers: {len(spec['exclude_uids']) - n_spec_excluded} more uids are excluded "
        f"({len(spec['exclude_uids'])} in all)."
    )
for key in ("slug", "query", "include_uids", "exclude_uids", "families", "marker_set", "rationale"):
    value = spec.get(key)
    if smoke and key == "exclude_uids":
        value = f"{len(value)} uids"
    print(f"{key}: {value}")
slug: human-liver
query: {'organism': 'human', 'tissue': 'liver'}
include_uids: None
exclude_uids: None
families: ['spot', 'imaging']
marker_set: liver
rationale: Normal and diseased liver (hepatoblastoma, HCC, cholangiopathies, metastases) on Visium, Visium HD and Xenium; about 20 Visium studies.
In [7]:
show_call(
    load_cohort,
    "Runs the query on the catalog, adds the included uids, removes the excluded ones, and loads each kept "
    "member's table keyed by gene symbol, joined within its technology family.",
)
adatas, cohort = load_cohort(spec, catalog=catalog)

primers.cohort.load_cohort: Runs the query on the catalog, adds the included uids, removes the excluded ones, and loads each kept member's table keyed by gene symbol, joined within its technology family. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

In [8]:
columns = ["uid", "title", "technology", "family", "paper", "paper_source", "license", "n_obs", "status"]
show_table(cohort[columns].rename(columns={"license": "licence"}))
show_table(cohort["status"].value_counts().rename_axis("status").reset_index(name="members"))
print(f"{int((cohort['status'] == 'kept').sum())} kept, {int((cohort['status'] != 'kept').sum())} dropped.")
uid title technology family paper paper_source licence n_obs status
0 HOIC4HzQzc05BePb0000 GSM7968251 Visium spot 10.1038/s41467-024-53802-4 doi ncbi-geo-policy 3212 kept
1 rrSqNIwTIk3PnY5s0000 GSM8627617 Visium spot 10.1016/j.jhepr.2026.101790 doi ncbi-geo-policy 1731 kept
2 J1Dr8zbHMubB6OzG0000 GSM9521683 VisiumHD spot 10.1038/s41467-026-72388-7 doi ncbi-geo-policy 333667 kept
3 fl8Gdod8fd8RGqZY0000 GSM9521682 VisiumHD spot 10.1038/s41467-026-72388-7 doi ncbi-geo-policy 500570 kept
4 JBN1uwntdLJb2QjZ0000 GSM8155170 Visium spot 10.1016/j.jhep.2025.01.031 doi ncbi-geo-policy 2897 kept
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
127 z9DOnBfm8cxSThCc0000 GSM9651110 Merscope imaging_cell 10.1126/science.ady1678 doi ncbi-geo-policy 180506 kept
128 juRqIyBoVERe9Uvi0000 GSM9815457 Xenium imaging_cell n/a none ncbi-geo-policy 186496 dropped: no paper (no study_id, series or collection)
129 bD2dLCN9cESWKMyq0000 GSM9815454 Xenium imaging_cell n/a none ncbi-geo-policy 80036 dropped: no paper (no study_id, series or collection)
130 bbFMP6QWhmrOQEXo0000 GSM9815455 Xenium imaging_cell n/a none ncbi-geo-policy 166860 dropped: no paper (no study_id, series or collection)
131 rzIlUPz36iNXmWcg0000 GSM9815456 Xenium imaging_cell n/a none ncbi-geo-policy 213319 dropped: no paper (no study_id, series or collection)

132 rows × 9 columns

status members
0 kept 128
1 dropped: no paper (no study_id, series or collection) 4
128 kept, 4 dropped.

The batch variable is the paper. A member's paper is its DOI. Without a DOI it is its GEO series, else its first collection, else its study id. A DOI that one member of a series or collection carries is given to the other members of that group. All 10x Genomics demo datasets count as one paper, because they come from one company and not from independent labs. Harmony runs on the section (dataset_uid), not on the paper. 10x often publishes one section in several Space Ranger releases, and only the newest release is kept, and the others are dropped as re-releases. Serial sections of one 10x block count as one section in the mixing statistics.

Quality control¶

Each technology group has its own filters. The table gives the values and the reason for each group.

In [9]:
show_call(load_thresholds, "Reads the QC threshold groups from thresholds.yaml.")
thresholds = load_thresholds()
show_table(
    pd.DataFrame(
        [
            {
                "group": name,
                "technologies": ", ".join(g["technologies"]),
                "min_counts": g["min_counts"],
                "min_genes": g["min_genes"],
                "max_pct_mt": g.get("max_pct_mt"),
                "flag: min median counts": g["flag"]["min_median_counts"],
                "flag: min share kept": g["flag"]["min_share_kept"],
                "reason": g["reason"],
            }
            for name, g in thresholds.items()
        ]
    ).set_index("group")
)
print(f"MIN_GENES_FOR_QC = {MIN_GENES_FOR_QC}: QC, and every view, needs at least this many genes.")

primers.qc.load_thresholds: Reads the QC threshold groups from thresholds.yaml. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

technologies min_counts min_genes max_pct_mt flag: min median counts flag: min share kept reason
group
spot Visium, SpatialTranscriptomics 500 250 30.0 1000 0.5 A Visium or ST spot holds about 1 to 10 cells, so a spot with under 500 UMIs or 250 genes is mostly background or tissue edge; solid tissues often reach 20 to 30% mitochondrial reads, so the cap is 30%.
binned_spot VisiumHD 200 50 30.0 200 0.5 On the 5 Visium HD sections of oliveira-2024-colorectal, 16 um bins at 200 counts kept 74% of bins with the same marker signal as 8 um bins at Oliveira et al.'s 100 (Nat Genet 57:1512-1523), which kept 60%, and found T cells in all 5 sections against 3 (web tasks/2026-11-01-t094-hd-bin-size.md).
imaging_cell Xenium, Merscope, MERFISH 10 3 n/a 30 0.5 Targeted panels give tens to hundreds of decoded transcripts per segmented cell, and a cell with under 10 transcripts or 3 genes cannot be given a type; the panels have no mitochondrial genes.
MIN_GENES_FOR_QC = 50: QC, and every view, needs at least this many genes.
In [10]:
show_call(
    apply_qc,
    "Leaves out control probes, computes counts, genes and the mitochondrial share per observation, keeps "
    "the observations that pass their technology's filters, and describes each dataset.",
)
qcs = []
for fam in list(adatas):
    adatas[fam], q = apply_qc(adatas[fam], thresholds)
    qcs.append(q.assign(family=fam))
qc = pd.concat(qcs, ignore_index=True)
show_table(qc)

primers.qc.apply_qc: Leaves out control probes, computes counts, genes and the mitochondrial share per observation, keeps the observations that pass their technology's filters, and describes each dataset. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

dataset_uid technology n_before n_after median_counts median_genes pct_mt_median flagged flag_reason status family
0 05mOTgbMjmunYc0j0000 Visium 2887 2859 2106.0 1384.0 0.0 False kept spot
1 0Er4Pnvi60YSgBFW0001 Visium 4992 4919 3339.5 1157.0 7.46 False kept spot
2 0VtapsmidOLIg4M00000 Visium 3006 2577 2920.5 1360.5 3.68 False kept spot
3 24sINQJLEWgPMwtD0000 Visium 3738 3442 1067.0 672.5 0.0 False kept spot
4 2vnrdtGYfJ393uGT0000 Visium 4992 4985 4559.5 1812.0 0.605 False kept spot
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
123 is4PesD6BpdLm8X80000 Merscope 843426 308043 4.0 4.0 n/a True median counts 4 < 30; 37% kept < 50% kept imaging_cell
124 jr5KKTKJK1kgewOd0001 Xenium 239271 236890 79.0 33.0 n/a False kept imaging_cell
125 mZ1K2fuvVUySdATf0000 Merscope 637943 229247 6.0 6.0 n/a True median counts 6 < 30; 36% kept < 50% kept imaging_cell
126 yEdhXq8ZyjpDdQCv0000 Merscope 729920 662148 60.0 37.0 n/a False kept imaging_cell
127 z9DOnBfm8cxSThCc0000 Merscope 180506 145714 27.0 21.0 n/a True median counts 27 < 30 kept imaging_cell

128 rows × 11 columns

In [11]:
MAX_VIOLIN_DATASETS = 40
for fam, adata in adatas.items():
    obs = adata.obs[["dataset_uid", "total_counts", "n_genes"]].copy()
    sizes = obs["dataset_uid"].value_counts()
    if len(sizes) > MAX_VIOLIN_DATASETS:
        print(f"{fam}: {len(sizes)} datasets, so the {MAX_VIOLIN_DATASETS} largest are shown.")
        obs = obs[obs["dataset_uid"].isin(sizes.index[:MAX_VIOLIN_DATASETS])]
    obs["dataset_uid"] = obs["dataset_uid"].astype(str).astype("category")
    display(Markdown(f"Counts and genes per observation after QC, family `{fam}`."))
    sc.pl.violin(ad.AnnData(obs=obs), ["total_counts", "n_genes"], groupby="dataset_uid", rotation=90, stripplot=False)
spot: 117 datasets, so the 40 largest are shown.

Counts and genes per observation after QC, family spot.

No description has been provided for this image

Counts and genes per observation after QC, family imaging_cell.

No description has been provided for this image

Marker set¶

Compartments are named only from this marker set, which was fixed before any embedding was computed. A compartment that a panel misses can have a fallback chosen from that panel's genes.

In [12]:
show_call(load_markers, "Reads the marker sets from markers.yaml, each with its citation and fallbacks.")
marker_set = load_markers()[spec["marker_set"]]
print(f"Marker set {spec['marker_set']!r}, cited from {', '.join(marker_set['citation'])}.")
show_table(
    pd.DataFrame({"markers": {c: ", ".join(g) for c, g in marker_set["compartments"].items()}}).rename_axis(
        "compartment"
    )
)
kept_after_qc = set(qc.loc[qc["status"] == "kept", "dataset_uid"].astype(str))
technology_of = cohort.set_index("uid")["technology"].astype(str)
panel_of = {
    uid: panel_id(technology_of[uid], genes)
    for adata in adatas.values()
    for uid, genes in adata.uns.get("member_genes", {}).items()
    if uid in kept_after_qc
}
used = [
    {
        "panel": pid,
        "compartment": comp,
        "genes": "not measured" if fb.get("not_measured") else ", ".join(fb.get("genes") or []),
        "note": fb.get("note", ""),
    }
    for pid, entries in (marker_set.get("fallback") or {}).items()
    if pid in set(panel_of.values())
    for comp, fb in entries.items()
]
if used:
    show_table(pd.DataFrame(used))
else:
    print("No fallback of this marker set applies to the panels of this cohort.")

primers.markers.load_markers: Reads the marker sets from markers.yaml, each with its citation and fallbacks. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

Marker set 'liver', cited from 10.1038/s41467-018-06318-7, 10.1016/j.cell.2021.12.018.
markers
compartment
hepatocyte ALB, APOA1, TTR
hepatocyte_central CYP2E1, GLUL
hepatocyte_portal HAL, SDS
cholangiocyte KRT19, KRT7, SOX9
endothelial STAB2, CLEC4G, PECAM1
stellate DCN, RELN, LRAT
kupffer VSIG4, MARCO, CD5L, TIMD4, CLEC4F
t_nk CD3E, NKG7
b_cell MS4A1, CD79A
panel compartment genes note
0 Xenium-471-a89ec624 hepatocyte APOA5, HPX, TAT, KNG1 hepatocyte-secreted plasma protein genes on this panel
1 Xenium-471-a89ec624 hepatocyte_central not measured no pericentral hepatocyte gene on this panel
2 Xenium-471-a89ec624 hepatocyte_portal not measured no periportal hepatocyte gene on this panel
3 Xenium-471-a89ec624 stellate PDGFRB, DES stellate genes on this panel; both are also in vascular mural cells
4 Xenium-377-9193d582 hepatocyte APOA5, HPX, TAT, KNG1 hepatocyte-secreted plasma protein genes on this panel
5 Xenium-377-9193d582 hepatocyte_central not measured no pericentral hepatocyte gene on this panel
6 Xenium-377-9193d582 hepatocyte_portal not measured no periportal hepatocyte gene on this panel
7 Xenium-377-9193d582 stellate PDGFRB, DES stellate genes on this panel; both are also in vascular mural cells
8 Xenium-474-9f41a2f3 hepatocyte APOA5, HPX, TAT, MAT1A, KNG1 hepatocyte-secreted plasma protein genes on this panel
9 Xenium-474-9f41a2f3 hepatocyte_central not measured no pericentral hepatocyte gene on this panel
10 Xenium-474-9f41a2f3 hepatocyte_portal not measured no periportal hepatocyte gene on this panel
11 Xenium-474-9f41a2f3 stellate PDGFRB, DES stellate genes on this panel; both are also in vascular mural cells

Spatial overview¶

For each technology, the kept section with the median number of observations is drawn, coloured by one marker gene of the first compartment whose markers (or its panel's fallbacks) the table measures. Only the table, the shapes it annotates and, for spot technologies, the low-resolution image are loaded.

In [13]:
show_call(with_qc_status, "Marks the members that have no cells left after QC as dropped.")
kept_members = with_qc_status(cohort, qc).query("status == 'kept'")
ENSEMBL = r"ENS[A-Z]*G\d{6}"
SYMBOL_COLUMNS = ("symbol", "gene_symbols", "gene_symbol", "gene_name", "feature_name")


def colour_gene(table, panel):
    """(var name, symbol) of the first gene of the first compartment the table measures.

    A compartment's genes are its markers, then the fallback genes for this section's own panel.
    """
    names = pd.Index(table.var_names.astype(str))
    symbols = names
    if names.str.match(ENSEMBL).mean() >= 0.5:
        column = next((c for c in SYMBOL_COLUMNS if c in table.var), None)
        if column is None:
            return None, None
        symbols = pd.Index(table.var[column].astype(str))
    by_symbol = {s.upper(): (n, s) for n, s in zip(names, symbols, strict=True)}
    fallback = (marker_set.get("fallback") or {}).get(panel) or {}
    for comp, genes in marker_set["compartments"].items():
        for gene in [*genes, *((fallback.get(comp) or {}).get("genes") or [])]:
            if gene.upper() in by_symbol:
                return by_symbol[gene.upper()]
    return None, None


def table_region(zarr_url, table_name):
    """The shapes element a table annotates, read from the table's zarr attributes without loading it."""
    group = zarr.open_group(zarr_url, mode="r", storage_options=storage_options(zarr_url) or None)
    attrs = dict(group[f"tables/{table_name}"].attrs)
    if "region" not in attrs and f"tables/{table_name}/uns/spatialdata_attrs" in group:
        attrs = ad.io.read_elem(group[f"tables/{table_name}/uns/spatialdata_attrs"])
    region = attrs.get("region")
    return region if isinstance(region, str) or region is None else (list(region) or [None])[0]


def representative_uids(members):
    """The ``representatives`` kept sections closest to the median number of observations."""
    n_obs = members.set_index("uid")["n_obs"].astype(float)
    return list((n_obs - n_obs.median()).abs().sort_values(kind="stable").index[:representatives])

primers.export.with_qc_status: Marks the members that have no cells left after QC as dropped. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

In [14]:
for tech, members in kept_members.groupby("technology"):
    for uid in representative_uids(members):
        ds = catalog.dataset(uid)
        stored = ds.elements()
        table_name = hd_table(stored) if tech == "VisiumHD" else (getattr(ds, "default_table", None) or "table")
        region = table_region(ds.zarr_url, table_name)
        if region is None or f"shapes/{region}" not in stored:
            display(Markdown(f"{tech}, section `{uid}`: the table annotates no shapes element, so no plot."))
            continue
        # a small tissue image when there is one: lowres, else hires (never the full-resolution image)
        images = [k.split("/", 1)[1] for k in stored if k.startswith("images/")]
        lowres = next((k for k in images if "lowres" in k), None) or next((k for k in images if "hires" in k), None)
        wanted = [f"tables/{table_name}", f"shapes/{region}"] + ([f"images/{lowres}"] if lowres else [])
        sdata = ds.to_sdata(elements=wanted)
        gene, symbol = colour_gene(sdata[table_name], panel_of.get(uid))
        section = members.set_index("uid").loc[uid, "title"]
        title = f"{tech}, {section}: {symbol}" if gene else f"{tech}, {section}"
        display(Markdown(f"{tech}, section `{uid}` ({int(members.set_index('uid').loc[uid, 'n_obs'])} observations)."))
        systems = list(get_transformation(sdata.shapes[region], get_all=True))
        system = "global" if "global" in systems else systems[0]
        # spatialdata-plot 0.4.2 rasterises shapes with datashader in "global" only; elsewhere use matplotlib
        method = None if system == "global" else "matplotlib"
        # fmt: off
        if lowres:
            (
                sdata
                .pl.render_images(lowres)
                .pl.render_shapes(region, color=gene, table_name=table_name, method=method, colorbar_params={"label": symbol})
                .pl.show(
                    coordinate_systems=system,
                    title=title,
                )
            )
        else:
            (
                sdata
                .pl.render_shapes(region, color=gene, table_name=table_name, method=method, colorbar_params={"label": symbol})
                .pl.show(
                    coordinate_systems=system,
                    title=title,
                )
            )
        # fmt: on

Merscope, section yEdhXq8ZyjpDdQCv0000 (729920 observations).

2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO] root_attr: version
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO] root_attr: multiscales
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO] root_attr: omero
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO] datasets [{'path': 's0', 'coordinateTransformations': [{'type': 'scale', 'scale': [1.0, 1.0, 1.0]}, {'type': 'translation', 'translation': [0.0, 0.0, 0.0]}]}]
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO] resolution: s0
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO]  - shape ('c', 'y', 'x') = (3, 490, 600)
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO]  - chunks =  ['3', '490', '600']
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO]  - dtype = uint8
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO] root_attr: version
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO] root_attr: multiscales
2026-11-04 03:23:12 | [INFO] root_attr: omero

Visium, section VZl6d5uoogwaDAFz0000 (2848 observations).

2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO] root_attr: version
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO] root_attr: multiscales
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO] root_attr: omero
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO] datasets [{'path': 's0', 'coordinateTransformations': [{'type': 'scale', 'scale': [1.0, 1.0, 1.0]}, {'type': 'translation', 'translation': [0.0, 0.0, 0.0]}]}]
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO] resolution: s0
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO]  - shape ('c', 'y', 'x') = (3, 600, 530)
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO]  - chunks =  ['3', '600', '530']
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO]  - dtype = uint8
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO] root_attr: version
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO] root_attr: multiscales
2026-11-04 03:23:16 | [INFO] root_attr: omero

VisiumHD, section J1Dr8zbHMubB6OzG0000 (333667 observations).

Xenium, section W3ZpPeOfvctDDlBV0000 (224957 observations).

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Embedding¶

Each technology family is embedded on the genes every member measured. A joint view across families is added only when the gates pass. The parameters of the embedding come first.

In [15]:
show_call(
    qc_floors, "Gives each technology's count floor, the min_counts of its QC group, for gate 3 and the joint view."
)
floors = qc_floors(thresholds)
show_table(
    pd.DataFrame(
        {
            "value": [str(x) for x in (MIN_SHARED_GENES, MAX_FLOOR_LOSS, N_HVG, N_PCS, N_NEIGHBORS, SEED)],
            "meaning": [
                "genes a view needs before a family is split per technology, and the joint view's gate 1",
                "largest share of a technology's observations that may fall below its floor on the shared genes (gate 3)",
                "highly variable genes kept when a view has more genes",
                "principal components",
                "neighbours per observation",
                "random seed",
            ],
        },
        index=["MIN_SHARED_GENES", "MAX_FLOOR_LOSS", "N_HVG", "N_PCS", "N_NEIGHBORS", "SEED"],
    )
)
show_table(pd.Series(floors, name="count floor").rename_axis("technology").to_frame())

primers.qc.qc_floors: Gives each technology's count floor, the min_counts of its QC group, for gate 3 and the joint view. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

value meaning
MIN_SHARED_GENES 200 genes a view needs before a family is split per technology, and the joint view's gate 1
MAX_FLOOR_LOSS 0.5 largest share of a technology's observations that may fall below its floor on the shared genes (gate 3)
N_HVG 2000 highly variable genes kept when a view has more genes
N_PCS 30 principal components
N_NEIGHBORS 30 neighbours per observation
SEED 0 random seed
count floor
technology
Visium 500.0
SpatialTranscriptomics 500.0
VisiumHD 200.0
Xenium 10.0
Merscope 10.0
MERFISH 10.0
In [16]:
show_call(
    embed_views,
    "Builds one view per family (or per technology when a family shares too few genes), plus the joint view "
    "when the gates pass, and embeds each with PCA, UMAP and Harmony on the section.",
)
views = embed_views(adatas, marker_set, floor=floors, use_gpu=use_gpu)
for name, v in views.items():
    p = v.uns["primer"]
    print(f"{name}: {p['n_obs']} observations, {p['n_sections']} sections; {p['genes']['rule']}. {p['note']}".strip())
first = next(iter(views.values())).uns["primer"]
for uid, reason in first["members_dropped_panel"].items():
    print(f"member {uid} {reason}")
for c in {tuple(c["uids"]): c for v in views.values() for c in v.uns["primer"]["panel_costs"]}.values():
    print(f"{c['technology']} panel of {', '.join(c['uids'])}: {c['reason']} shared genes")
for name, reason in first["views_skipped"].items():
    print(f"no view {name}: {reason}")
gates = next((v.uns["primer"]["gates"] for v in views.values() if "gates" in v.uns["primer"]), None)
if gates is not None:
    print(f"Joint view: {'yes' if gates['joint'] else 'no'}. {gates['reason']}".strip())
    for drop in gates["drops"]:
        print(f"  left out {drop['technology']} ({drop['step']}): {drop['reason']}")

primers.embed.embed_views: Builds one view per family (or per technology when a family shares too few genes), plus the joint view when the gates pass, and embeds each with PCA, UMAP and Harmony on the section. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

spot: 496794 observations, 117 sections; 2000 highly variable genes of the 16846 measured, expressed genes (seurat_v3 on raw counts, without batch, because the per-section fit failed); its 7 gene panels have 17,943 to 37,481 genes each and share 16,846.
imaging_cell:Xenium: 623446 observations, 3 sections; all 377 measured, expressed genes of the view; its 3 gene panels have 377 to 474 genes each and share 377. Xenium 377 ∩ Merscope 499 = 101 shared genes (under 200), so one view per technology
imaging_cell:Merscope: 3168421 observations, 8 sections; all 499 measured, expressed genes of the view. Xenium 377 ∩ Merscope 499 = 101 shared genes (under 200), so one view per technology
Joint view: no. fewer than two families keep a technology
  left out Visium (gate3): loses 100% of its observations below 500 counts on the 97 shared genes (limit 50%)
  left out VisiumHD (gate3): loses 100% of its observations below 200 counts on the 97 shared genes (limit 50%)
  left out Merscope (gate3): loses 75% of its observations below 10 counts on the 97 shared genes (limit 50%)
In [17]:
for name, v in views.items():
    colours = [c for c in ("paper", "technology", "tissue") if c in v.obs and v.obs[c].nunique() > 1]
    display(Markdown(f"View `{name}`, before Harmony."))
    sc.pl.umap(v, color=colours or None, ncols=1)
    if "X_umap_harmony" in v.obsm:
        display(Markdown(f"View `{name}`, after Harmony on the section."))
        sc.pl.embedding(v, basis="X_umap_harmony", color=colours or None, ncols=1)
    else:
        display(Markdown(f"View `{name}` has one section, so it has no Harmony embedding."))

View spot, before Harmony.

No description has been provided for this image

View spot, after Harmony on the section.

No description has been provided for this image

View imaging_cell:Xenium, before Harmony.

No description has been provided for this image

View imaging_cell:Xenium, after Harmony on the section.

No description has been provided for this image

View imaging_cell:Merscope, before Harmony.

No description has been provided for this image

View imaging_cell:Merscope, after Harmony on the section.

No description has been provided for this image
In [18]:
show_call(
    mixing_by_view,
    "Measures how evenly the batches mix among each observation's nearest neighbours, per view, before and "
    "after Harmony; the bundle's manifest records the same numbers.",
)
mixing = mixing_by_view(views)
rows, definitions = [], {}
for name, by_batch in mixing.items():
    for label, by_basis in by_batch.items():
        for basis, m in by_basis.items():
            for stat in ("entropy", "other_share"):
                definitions.setdefault(stat, m[stat]["definition"].replace(m["batch_key"], "batch"))
                rows.append(
                    {
                        "view": name,
                        "batch": label,
                        "embedding": "after Harmony" if basis == "X_pca_harmony" else "before Harmony",
                        "statistic": stat,
                        "mean": m[stat]["mean"],
                        "random reference": m[stat]["random"],
                        "limit from proportions": m[stat]["random_limit"],
                        "note": m["note"],
                    }
                )
show_table(pd.DataFrame(rows))
for stat, text in definitions.items():
    print(f"{stat}: {text}")
print(CAVEAT)

primers.export.mixing_by_view: Measures how evenly the batches mix among each observation's nearest neighbours, per view, before and after Harmony; the bundle's manifest records the same numbers. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

view batch embedding statistic mean random reference limit from proportions note
0 spot section before Harmony entropy 0.133 0.784 1.129
1 spot section before Harmony other_share 0.273 0.896 0.928
2 spot section after Harmony entropy 0.391 0.785 1.129
3 spot section after Harmony other_share 0.596 0.897 0.928
4 spot paper before Harmony entropy 0.009 0.637 0.737
5 spot paper before Harmony other_share 0.017 0.793 0.821
6 spot paper after Harmony entropy 0.198 0.637 0.737
7 spot paper after Harmony other_share 0.283 0.793 0.821
8 imaging_cell:Xenium section before Harmony entropy 0.06 0.957 0.988
9 imaging_cell:Xenium section before Harmony other_share 0.035 0.636 0.658
10 imaging_cell:Xenium section after Harmony entropy 0.164 0.957 0.988
11 imaging_cell:Xenium section after Harmony other_share 0.116 0.636 0.658
12 imaging_cell:Xenium paper before Harmony entropy 0.012 0.918 0.943
13 imaging_cell:Xenium paper before Harmony other_share 0.003 0.445 0.461
14 imaging_cell:Xenium paper after Harmony entropy 0.1 0.918 0.943
15 imaging_cell:Xenium paper after Harmony other_share 0.037 0.445 0.461
16 imaging_cell:Merscope section before Harmony entropy 0.223 0.843 0.903
17 imaging_cell:Merscope section before Harmony other_share 0.229 0.805 0.832
18 imaging_cell:Merscope section after Harmony entropy 0.41 0.843 0.903
19 imaging_cell:Merscope section after Harmony other_share 0.465 0.805 0.832
20 imaging_cell:Merscope paper before Harmony entropy n/a n/a n/a one paper, so neither statistic is defined
21 imaging_cell:Merscope paper before Harmony other_share n/a n/a n/a one paper, so neither statistic is defined
22 imaging_cell:Merscope paper after Harmony entropy n/a n/a n/a one paper, so neither statistic is defined
23 imaging_cell:Merscope paper after Harmony other_share n/a n/a n/a one paper, so neither statistic is defined
entropy: How evenly the batch labels are spread among each observation's 30 nearest neighbours, divided by log(min(30, number of labels)): 0 when all neighbours share one label, 1 when the labels are as evenly spread as the neighbours allow.
other_share: The share of each observation's 30 nearest neighbours that carry another batch.
Well mixed is not the same as biologically right: a correction can also mix cells that differ for a real reason, such as tissue or disease.

Biology¶

Each view is clustered with Leiden (resolution 0.5, 2 iterations) on its Harmony graph, or on its PCA graph when it is uncorrected. The clusters are then described by the marker genes of the marker set only.

In [19]:
fallback_genes = {}
for entries in (marker_set.get("fallback") or {}).values():
    for comp, fb in (entries or {}).items():
        fallback_genes.setdefault(comp, set()).update(str(g).upper() for g in (fb or {}).get("genes") or [])
compartment_genes = {
    comp: {str(g).upper() for g in genes} | fallback_genes.get(comp, set())
    for comp, genes in marker_set["compartments"].items()
}
readings = {}
for name, v in views.items():
    key = "nn_harmony" if "nn_harmony_distances" in v.obsp else "nn_pca"
    leiden = {"resolution": 0.5, "random_state": SEED, "neighbors_key": key, "key_added": "leiden"}
    if use_gpu:  # rapids-singlecell's n_iterations counts aggregation levels, so its default is kept
        rsc.tl.leiden(v, **leiden)
    else:
        sc.tl.leiden(v, flavor="igraph", n_iterations=2, **leiden)
    expr = v.obsm["marker_expr"]
    m = ad.AnnData(
        X=expr.to_numpy(dtype=np.float32),
        obs=v.obs[["leiden"]].copy(),
        var=pd.DataFrame(index=expr.columns.astype(str)),
    )
    display(Markdown(f"View `{name}`: {m.obs['leiden'].nunique()} clusters on `{key}`, {m.n_vars} marker genes."))
    if m.n_vars == 0 or m.obs["leiden"].nunique() < 2:
        display(Markdown("This view has fewer than two clusters or no marker gene, so there is no dotplot."))
        continue
    by_compartment = {
        comp: [g for g in expr.columns if g.upper() in genes] for comp, genes in compartment_genes.items()
    }
    sc.pl.dotplot(m, {k: g for k, g in by_compartment.items() if g}, groupby="leiden", standard_scale="var")
    scores = (
        pd.DataFrame(
            {
                comp: expr[[g for g in expr.columns if g.upper() in genes]].mean(axis=1)
                for comp, genes in compartment_genes.items()
                if any(g.upper() in genes for g in expr.columns)
            }
        )
        .groupby(m.obs["leiden"].to_numpy())
        .mean()
    )
    ranked = scores.apply(lambda r: r.sort_values(ascending=False), axis=1)
    table = pd.DataFrame(
        {
            "observations": m.obs["leiden"].value_counts().reindex(scores.index),
            "top compartment": scores.idxmax(axis=1),
            "top mean": scores.max(axis=1),
            "runner-up": [r.dropna().index[1] if r.notna().sum() > 1 else "" for _, r in ranked.iterrows()],
            "runner-up mean": [r.dropna().iloc[1] if r.notna().sum() > 1 else np.nan for _, r in ranked.iterrows()],
        }
    ).rename_axis("cluster")
    readings[name] = table
    show_table(table)

View spot: 13 clusters on nn_harmony, 37 marker genes.

No description has been provided for this image
observations top compartment top mean runner-up runner-up mean
cluster
0 27797 hepatocyte 1.562 cholangiocyte 0.118
1 73253 hepatocyte_central 0.78 cholangiocyte 0.163
10 1584 hepatocyte 2.404 cholangiocyte 0.003
11 652 hepatocyte 1.762 cholangiocyte 0.014
12 1983 hepatocyte 2.139 cholangiocyte 0.014
2 135736 hepatocyte 1.888 cholangiocyte 0.029
3 29745 hepatocyte_central 1.551 cholangiocyte 0.051
4 4872 hepatocyte 0.35 cholangiocyte 0.036
5 37958 cholangiocyte 0.521 cholangiocyte 0.521
6 1929 hepatocyte 1.404 cholangiocyte 0.086
7 3641 stellate 0.385 cholangiocyte 0.162
8 175894 hepatocyte 0.979 cholangiocyte 0.001
9 1750 hepatocyte 1.488 cholangiocyte 0.09

View imaging_cell:Xenium: 11 clusters on nn_harmony, 15 marker genes.

No description has been provided for this image
observations top compartment top mean runner-up runner-up mean
cluster
0 71169 hepatocyte 0.636 cholangiocyte 0.002
1 29465 t_nk 0.416 cholangiocyte 0.012
10 158123 hepatocyte 1.025 cholangiocyte 0.003
2 46776 kupffer 0.45 cholangiocyte 0.009
3 49981 endothelial 0.653 cholangiocyte 0.005
4 178005 hepatocyte 0.227 cholangiocyte 0.0
5 49392 hepatocyte 0.257 cholangiocyte 0.018
6 16187 endothelial 0.344 cholangiocyte 0.005
7 6748 cholangiocyte 0.622 cholangiocyte 0.622
8 6182 hepatocyte 0.229 cholangiocyte 0.001
9 11418 hepatocyte 0.172 cholangiocyte 0.0

View imaging_cell:Merscope: 11 clusters on nn_harmony, 13 marker genes.

No description has been provided for this image
observations top compartment top mean runner-up runner-up mean
cluster
0 373512 hepatocyte 0.122 cholangiocyte 0.004
1 215014 b_cell 0.255 cholangiocyte 0.002
10 36832 cholangiocyte 0.325 cholangiocyte 0.325
2 315341 stellate 0.4 cholangiocyte 0.004
3 391109 hepatocyte 1.178 cholangiocyte 0.004
4 486259 t_nk 0.198 cholangiocyte 0.003
5 241953 hepatocyte 0.441 cholangiocyte 0.004
6 551319 hepatocyte 0.794 cholangiocyte 0.002
7 210045 hepatocyte 0.897 cholangiocyte 0.004
8 346424 hepatocyte 0.954 cholangiocyte 0.011
9 613 b_cell 0.564 cholangiocyte 0.0

Draft reading, to be reviewed by the Lead¶

Each statement below is generated from the reading table of its view and cites the numbers in it. The score of a compartment is the mean, over a cluster's observations, of the mean log-normalised expression of the compartment's marker and fallback genes. Compartments can sit inside others (goblet cells are epithelial), so the top compartment of a cluster does not exclude the runner-up.

In [20]:
for name, table in readings.items():
    lines = [f"View `{name}`:"]
    for cluster, r in table.iterrows():
        text = (
            f"- Cluster {cluster} ({int(r['observations'])} observations) has its highest mean marker expression "
            f"for {r['top compartment']} ({r['top mean']:.2f})"
        )
        if r["runner-up"]:
            text += f", followed by {r['runner-up']} ({r['runner-up mean']:.2f})"
        lines.append(text + ".")
    display(Markdown("\n".join(lines)))

View spot:

  • Cluster 0 (27797 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (1.56), followed by cholangiocyte (0.12).
  • Cluster 1 (73253 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte_central (0.78), followed by cholangiocyte (0.16).
  • Cluster 10 (1584 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (2.40), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 11 (652 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (1.76), followed by cholangiocyte (0.01).
  • Cluster 12 (1983 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (2.14), followed by cholangiocyte (0.01).
  • Cluster 2 (135736 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (1.89), followed by cholangiocyte (0.03).
  • Cluster 3 (29745 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte_central (1.55), followed by cholangiocyte (0.05).
  • Cluster 4 (4872 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.35), followed by cholangiocyte (0.04).
  • Cluster 5 (37958 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for cholangiocyte (0.52), followed by cholangiocyte (0.52).
  • Cluster 6 (1929 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (1.40), followed by cholangiocyte (0.09).
  • Cluster 7 (3641 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for stellate (0.39), followed by cholangiocyte (0.16).
  • Cluster 8 (175894 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.98), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 9 (1750 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (1.49), followed by cholangiocyte (0.09).

View imaging_cell:Xenium:

  • Cluster 0 (71169 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.64), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 1 (29465 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for t_nk (0.42), followed by cholangiocyte (0.01).
  • Cluster 10 (158123 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (1.02), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 2 (46776 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for kupffer (0.45), followed by cholangiocyte (0.01).
  • Cluster 3 (49981 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for endothelial (0.65), followed by cholangiocyte (0.01).
  • Cluster 4 (178005 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.23), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 5 (49392 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.26), followed by cholangiocyte (0.02).
  • Cluster 6 (16187 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for endothelial (0.34), followed by cholangiocyte (0.01).
  • Cluster 7 (6748 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for cholangiocyte (0.62), followed by cholangiocyte (0.62).
  • Cluster 8 (6182 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.23), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 9 (11418 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.17), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).

View imaging_cell:Merscope:

  • Cluster 0 (373512 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.12), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 1 (215014 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for b_cell (0.26), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 10 (36832 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for cholangiocyte (0.33), followed by cholangiocyte (0.33).
  • Cluster 2 (315341 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for stellate (0.40), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 3 (391109 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (1.18), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 4 (486259 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for t_nk (0.20), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 5 (241953 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.44), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 6 (551319 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.79), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 7 (210045 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.90), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).
  • Cluster 8 (346424 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for hepatocyte (0.95), followed by cholangiocyte (0.01).
  • Cluster 9 (613 observations) has its highest mean marker expression for b_cell (0.56), followed by cholangiocyte (0.00).

Export and reproduce¶

The bundle holds the manifest, the web subsample of each view, the QC and cohort tables and the embeddings.

In [21]:
show_call(
    export_bundle,
    "Writes the manifest, umap.parquet, qc.parquet, cohort.parquet and embedding.h5ad for this cohort. A cohort whose embedding is over 1 GiB gets parts of whole datasets instead (embedding-1.h5ad, embedding-2.h5ad, ...), and anndata.concat over the parts gives the whole cohort.",
)
bundle = export_bundle(
    views,
    cohort,
    qc,
    spec,
    out_dir,
    release,
    runtime_s=time.time() - start,
    mixing=mixing,
    primers_ref=primers_ref,
)
for f in sorted(bundle.iterdir()):
    print(f"{f.relative_to(out_dir)}  {f.stat().st_size} bytes")
manifest = json.loads((bundle / "manifest.json").read_text())
for key in (
    "slug",
    "release",
    "primers_ref",
    "n_datasets",
    "n_papers",
    "technologies",
    "n_cells_before",
    "n_cells_after",
    "n_flagged",
    "path",
    "hardware",
    "runtime_s",
):
    print(f"{key}: {manifest[key]}")

primers.export.export_bundle: Writes the manifest, umap.parquet, qc.parquet, cohort.parquet and embedding.h5ad for this cohort. A cohort whose embedding is over 1 GiB gets parts of whole datasets instead (embedding-1.h5ad, embedding-2.h5ad, ...), and anndata.concat over the parts gives the whole cohort. Source at 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070.

ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
ImplicitModificationWarning: Trying to modify attribute `.obs` of view, initializing view as actual.
human-liver/cohort.parquet  13124 bytes
human-liver/embedding-1.h5ad  882273390 bytes
human-liver/embedding-2.h5ad  498561239 bytes
human-liver/manifest.json  109529 bytes
human-liver/primer.ipynb  3486796 bytes
human-liver/qc.parquet  12899 bytes
human-liver/umap.parquet  4307233 bytes
slug: human-liver
release: 2026-11-01
primers_ref: 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070
n_datasets: 128
n_papers: 22
technologies: ['Merscope', 'Visium', 'VisiumHD', 'Xenium']
n_cells_before: 6241403
n_cells_after: 4288661
n_flagged: 12
path: gpu
hardware: NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC
runtime_s: 1277.0
In [22]:
command = (
    f"papermill primers/notebooks/primer.ipynb primer.ipynb -p slug {slug} -p release {release} "
    f"-p primers_ref {primers_ref} -p use_gpu {use_gpu}" + (f" -p smoke {smoke}" if smoke else "")
)
versions = "\n".join(f"  - {k} {v}" for k, v in manifest["versions"].items())
display(
    Markdown(
        f"- Catalog release: `{release}`\n- primers reference: `{primers_ref}`\n- Versions:\n{versions}\n"
        f"- Hardware: {manifest['hardware']} ({platform.system()})\n- Path: {manifest['path']}\n\n"
        "To run this primer again:"
    )
)
show_command(command)
  • Catalog release: 2026-11-01
  • primers reference: 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070
  • Versions:
    • spatialdata-db 0.1.3
    • scanpy 1.12.5
    • anndata 0.13.4
    • spatialdata 0.8.0
    • spatialdata-plot 0.4.2
    • rapids-singlecell-cu13 0.18.1
  • Hardware: NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC (Linux)
  • Path: gpu

To run this primer again:

papermill primers/notebooks/primer.ipynb primer.ipynb -p slug human-liver -p release 2026-11-01 -p primers_ref 4d7af340849c00077f9d21c5b54af9e689a4a070 -p use_gpu True