Bioinformatics Seminar
Time: 11AM
Venue: Davis Auditorium and Online
19 May 2026
Profiling the Matrix in Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities
Amelia ParkerGarvan Institute of Medical Research
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an important regulator of cell behaviour in all organs and is emerging as a major modulator of tumour progression and treatment response in many cancer types. Technical challenges in profiling the extracellular matrix have hindered our understanding of this critical component of the tumour microenvironment. The revolution in big data technologies, coupled with ECM-targeted method development, is now providing unprecedented opportunities to characterise ECM remodelling in health, and understand the functional role of key players in disease progression. This is revealing novel therapeutic opportunities to co-target this remodelling and improve treatment efficacy in aggressive cancer types. Through interrogation of bulk and spatial transcriptomics and proteomics data, we are beginning to define ECM remodelling processes that modulate the tumour ecosystem to shape disease trajectory. Furthermore, spatial profiling is shedding light on cancerization fields that extend beyond tumour margins to prime tissue for metastatic dissemination. These processes contribute to cancer risk and affect therapy response to impact patient outcomes, with potential utility as biomarkers of risk, prognosis and treatment response. Efforts to understand the ECM have highlighted key analytical considerations when working with matrisomal data compared with traditional proteomics. Conversely, analytical challenges remain in the identification and annotation of matrisomal data, particularly in the spatial domain. This seminar will outline the lessons we have learned, and approaches we are taking, to delve deeper into the matrix and unravel its major role in cancer biology.