Finnish Cancer Center FICAN science webinar

Welcome to the next Finnish Cancer Center FICAN Science Webinar. This time the seminar is hosted by FICAN North.

Associate Professor Valerio Izzi from the University of Oulu will give a talk on Novel computational approaches to the spatial analysis of cancer.

Abstract
Spatial transcriptomics enables in situ analysis of tumor ecosystems but remains limited by resolution constraints, insufficient integration of extracellular matrix (ECM) biology, and clustering approaches that inadequately capture spatial topology. Additionally, while spatial methods should be conductive to user interaction and interfacing with multiple domains of biomedical sciences, they remain computationally heavy and mostly used retrospectively, to discover dependencies and guide new experiments, thus not really integrating with wet-lab workflows. Better computational models are needed to overcome these limitations and provide interactive experiences to biomedical researchers. In this context, my lab specializes in super-resolution visualization of spatial transcriptomics data, enabling sub-spot exploration while preserving quantitative accuracy, ECM-aware spatial modeling to uncover how ECM organization structures tumor growth and immune landscapes, and advanced AI systems to produce topology-aware clustering that captures biologically coherent tumor ecosystems.

Relevant references from the speaker for this talk:
• NaVis: a virtual microscopy framework for interactive, high-resolution navigation of spatial transcriptomics data. Oshinjo A., Wu J., Petrov P, Izzi V. bioRxiv 2026.02.18.706509. 
• MatriCom, a single-cell RNA-sequencing data mining tool to infer cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Lamba R, Paguntalan AM, Petrov PB, Naba A, Izzi V.J Cell Sci. 2025 Jul 1;138(13): jcs263927.
• Matrisome AnalyzeR – a suite of tools to annotate and quantify ECM molecules in big datasets across organisms. Petrov PB, Considine JM, Izzi V, Naba A.J Cell Sci. 2023 Sep 1;136(17): jcs261255.

These nationwide webinars provide a platform to share new scientific findings, highlight recent advances in cancer research, and foster collaboration among cancer researchers and clinicians across Finland.

Welcome!

For further information, please send email in the address [email protected].