Cancer Regulation and Immunology research group investigates how immunosuppression is generated and maintained in brain tumor microenvironment as well as how altered epigenetic and gene regulation drives malignancy and cell plasticity, also by hijacking regulation in normal stem cells. Furthermore, we develop novel methods to utilize DNA methylation for brain tumor diagnostics.
Our research focuses on brain tumors, especially glioblastomas, other diffuse gliomas, and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors (AT/RTs), as well as prostate cancer. The group is composed of both computational and experimental researchers and we have expertise in a wide range of epigenetic, gene expression, single-cell, and spatial analysis methods. We work closely with clinical experts and mainly utilize patient samples and in-house generated patient-derived explant cultures in our research.
The group is a part of Center for Cancer Eradication Research (CCER), FICAN-MID Tays cancer centre, Brain & Mind network, and is active in Health Data Scienceprofiling area and associations , such as Finnish Brain Tumor Research Association (FiBTRA).