Single Cell and Spatial Omics Symposium 2026

The Single Cell and Spatial Omics Symposium will take place on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Lecture Hall 1, Biomedicum Helsinki, Finland. The event brings together leading international researchers advancing single-cell and spatial omics technologies and their applications across biology and medicine.
Program schedule:

Single Cell and Spatial Omics Symposium

Thursday, March 12, 2026 – Biomedicum Helsinki, Lecture Hall 1

09:00 — Opening words

SESSION 1: Spatial context of cellular function (1/2)

Chair: Andrew Erickson

  • 09:05 — Nikolaus Rajewsky (Max Delbrück Center): From Spatial Omics to Molecular Mechanisms
  • 09:45 — Helena Kilpinen (University of Helsinki): Joint profiling of cell morphology and gene expression in neuronal disease models

  • 10:05 — Sponsor talk by Element Biosciences (Wilfred Van Ijcken): Seeing Deeper with AVITI24: Advancing Optical Pooled Screening

    10:15–10:45 — Coffee & poster setup

SESSION 2: Spatial context of cellular function (2/2) & Poster teasers

Chair: Taneli Pusa

  • 10:45 — Ralf Jungmann (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry): From DNA Nanotechnology to Biomedical Insight: Towards Single-Molecule Spatial Omics
  • 11:25 — Sponsor talk by Illumina (Kristine Osther): Beyond the Genome with Multiomics 

  • 11:35 — Poster teasers

    12:05–13:10 — Lunch (salmon soup, B‑lobby)

SESSION 3: Tumor microenvironment

Chair: Anniina Färkkilä

  • 13:10 — Ernst Lengyel (University of Chicago): Spatial Transcriptomics and Proteomics to Understand Ovarian Cancer Biology
  • 13:50 — Maria Secrier (University College London): Decoding the plastic cancer niche: spatial insights powered by ecology and AI

  • 14:30 — Daniela Ungureanu (University of Oulu): Systematic Single-Cell Drug Profiling Unmasks Tumor–Stroma Crosstalk as a Driver of Therapy Resistance in Prostate Cancer

    14:50–15:20 — Posters & coffee

SESSION 4: Cell fate

Chair: Anna Vähärautio

  • 15:20 — Ana Martin‑Villalba (German Cancer Research Center): Tracking Cellular Journeys Through Injury with Single-Cell Multiomics
  • 16:00 — HiLife Seminar: Allon Klein (Harvard Medical School): Single cell and single colony genomics in capsules

  • 16:40 — Final words from the organizers

    16:45–17:50 — Poster session with sparkling & snacks

 

Registration for the symposium has now closed, the event is fully booked.

 

Organising team for the symposium: Anna Vähärautio, Anniina Färkkilä, Andrew Erickson, Iivari Kleino, Rafa Najumudeen, Laura Elo.

For general questions, please contact Alyce Whipp ().

For student questions, please contact Anna Vähärautio ().

For sponsorship-related questions, please contact Aino Elomaa (). 

 

Registration is now closed for the completely renewed . This doctoral-level course offers an introduction to single-cell RNA-seq and spatial omics through a combination of lectures and hands-on sessions, especially focused on the data analysis but also including demos for wet-lab. The course will be arranged in Biomedicum Helsinki, onsite only, between Feb-24 to March-6th, 2026.

The CSC also organises an associated online course 'Single-cell RNA-seq data analysis using Chipster’. The course is organised 3.3.2026 - 4.3.2026, 09:00 - 12:30 both days, and does not require previous knowledge of Unix, R or Python. No credits assigned.

Our sponsors: