Quantum Barcoding Bridges High-Dimensional Immune Phenotyping with Signaling Responses across Species

Tan, T.-K.; Taylor, K.; Zhang, F.; Bai, Y.; Zhu, B.; Baertsch, M. A.; Anronikov, S. A.; Bjornson-Hooper, Z.; Ho, D. L. L.; Trejo, A.; Nakauchi, H.; Czechowicz, A.; Steemers, F.; Nolan, G. P.; McIlwain, D. R.

doi:10.64898/2026.10.31.763237

bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.10.31.763237

Quantum Barcoding Bridges High-Dimensional Immune Phenotyping with Signaling Responses across Species

Tan, T.-K.·Taylor, K.·Zhang, F.·Bai, Y.·Zhu, B.·Baertsch, M. A.·Anronikov, S. A.·Bjornson-Hooper, Z.·Ho, D. L. L.·Trejo, A.·Nakauchi, H.·Czechowicz, A.·Steemers, F.·Nolan, G. P.·McIlwain, D. R.

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Abstract

Cross-species immune profiling is limited by marker-panel size and antibody cross-reactivity. We benchmark Quantum Barcoding (QBC), a split-pool oligo-antibody assay, against mass cytometry in human and rhesus macaque blood and integrate separately measured cells using MARIO. The resulting computationally matched profiles carry 174 protein features. Population-frequency concordance was higher in humans (Pearson r = 0.92) than rhesus macaques (r = 0.55), and fusion resolved complementary lineage subsets. Unstimulated signaling conservation varied by lineage, with B-cell profiles correlated across species (Spearman {rho} = 0.70). In the primary PBMC-reference analysis, GM-CSF increased pSTAT5 in human monocytes and dendritic populations and rhesus dendritic cells. Network inference identified convergent pSTAT5-centered connectivity changes in human monocytes and rhesus dendritic cells, including pSTAT1-edge reversal and gained pSTAT3/pERK coupling. These results connect broad surface phenotypes to inferred signaling organization while retaining species- and population-specific differences.

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Tan, T.-K., Taylor, K., Zhang, F., Bai, Y., Zhu, B., Baertsch, M. A., Anronikov, S. A., Bjornson-Hooper, Z., Ho, D. L. L., Trejo, A., Nakauchi, H., Czechowicz, A., Steemers, F., Nolan, G. P., McIlwain, D. R.. 2026-11-02. Quantum Barcoding Bridges High-Dimensional Immune Phenotyping with Signaling Responses across Species. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.31.763237

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