Translational Cancer Medicine Program (CAN-PRO)

Approximately one-third of all adults will face cancer diagnosis during their lifetime, creating an urgent need for more efficient cancer therapies.

The Translational Cancer Medicine Program (CAN-PRO) aims to tackle this challenge by analysis of tumor heterogeneity and tumor microenvironment, screening and discovery of targeted cancer therapies, and use of artificial intelligence tools into more effective treatments.

CAN-PRO provides a platform for translational discovery that bridges the gap between the fundamental cancer research in the Academic Medical Center Helsinki and the early-stage clinical trials of the Helsinki University Hospital. In this platform, genomic, epidemiological and pathological analyses, analysis of patient-specific cancer organoids, mechanistic validation and drug efficacy studies will be integrated with data from the national databases, registries and biobanks. This enables the discovery and validation of the biomarker signatures that associate with the drug efficacy profiles of individual patients, paving the way for precision cancer treatments.

The team comprises the strong expertise of the basic and translational researchers from 12 research groups, supported by clinical pathologists. With this synergistic expertise, the use of cutting-edge technologies and the access to the wide collection of tumor samples and related research and clinical programs, the team aims to achieve the translational goals of CAN-PRO.

Program director

Sakari Vanharanta

Functional Cancer Genomics

Biomedicum Helsinki 1

Haartmaninkatu 8

PO Box 63

FI-00014 University of Helsinki

Tel. +358 504332200

sakari.vanharanta@helsinki.fi

  • Panu Kovanen 
  • Johannes Dunkel 
Key Pub­lic­a­tions from CAN-PRO