CROST 2.0: an expanded repository of spatial transcriptomics.

CROST 2.0 expands the public spatial transcriptomics repository to 544 projects and 3538 samples, nearly tripling version 1.0’s 182 projects and 1033 samples.

• Why it matters: Spatial microenvironment studies need curated, standardized datasets plus analysis tools that can quantify niche structure, cancer-associated spatial features, and cross-sample spatial patterns.
• What they did: The update adds niche-associated differential expression, spatial gene-set activity, interaction hotspot/topic analyses, and molecular/cell-type niche analysis, plus Spatial Compare for cross-sample comparisons and Cancer NicheDE for cancer niche-associated differential expression.
• The result: CROST 2.0 integrates SCType for cell-type annotation using single-cell references and expands derived colocalization and spatially variable cancer gene resources, enabling systematic characterization and comparison of spatial microenvironments.

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