Cancer Stress Biology research group led by Docent Leena Latonen studies the molecular, cellular, and tissue mechanisms that contribute formation and progression of cancer. We focus on the molecular mechanisms behind the ability of cancer cells to form resistance to drugs and study how cancer grows in tissue. We develop better ways to image, visualize, and quantitatively analyse tissue alterations and histology, utilizing novel and multimodal imaging methods, digital pathology, machine learning, and AI tools.
We are a part of UEF Cancer, The Multidisciplinary Cancer Research Community within University of Eastern Finland. The Multidisciplinary Cancer RC builds a translational cancer research cluster with Kuopio University Hospital, FICAN East, The Biobank of Eastern Finland, and Kuopio data lake, and brings together expertise on molecular mechanisms, genomics, and quantitative imaging analysis with clinical understanding of cancer diagnostics and treatment. Our goal is to bring personalized medicine in cancer to the clinic.
Cancer Stress Biology research group also belongs to the Steroid Receptor Research Center utilizing state-of-the-art experimental and computational methods to study molecular mechanisms of steroid hormone receptor functions especially in regulation of chromatin, transcription, and treatment resistance relevant for hormone-dependent cancers, such as prostate and breast cancer.
Our main funding sources are the Finnish Academy, ERA PerMed, Cancer Foundation Finland, and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation.
