10 July 2026
PRECISE (Predictive Relationships Explaining Cancer Genetic Interactions and Synthetic Essentiality) is a pan-European initiative that aims to move cancer research beyond cataloguing cancer vulnerabilities towards predicting them before they are experimentally tested. Human Technopole (HT) is among the founding partners of the consortium, with Francesco Iorio leading its scientific activities across the institute alongside other HT research groups. The consortium and its scientific vision are presented in a Nature Genetics commentary.
Despite substantial advances in precision oncology, predicting how cancer evolves and identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities remain significant challenges. Cancer cells often depend on specific genes or molecular pathways to survive or proliferate, creating vulnerabilities that can be therapeutically exploited. Large-scale experimental screens have generated cancer dependency maps that identify many such vulnerabilities and have significantly advanced the discovery of new therapeutic targets. However, these maps remain largely descriptive, providing limited insight into the mechanisms underlying them, their evolution under therapeutic pressure, or their behaviour across different biological contexts.
To address these limitations, PRECISE brings together over 30 experimental and computational research groups from more than 20 research institutes and universities across nine European countries. It represents the first coordinated European effort to develop predictive models of cancer vulnerabilities at this scale. By combining perturbation biology with multimodal molecular profiling, machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the PRECISE consortium aims not only to determine where cancer vulnerabilities occur, but also to understand why they arise and how they can be anticipated in previously untested settings. This integrated approach has the potential to accelerate the discovery of therapeutic targets and extend the benefits of precision oncology to patients whose tumours currently lack actionable treatment options.
A distinctive feature of PRECISE is its iterative prediction-validation workflow. Rather than simply analysing existing data, computational models guide the design of new experiments by prioritising the most informative perturbations to test in the laboratory. The resulting new data are then used to refine the models, creating a continuous feedback loop that progressively improves predictive performance. Through these iterative prediction-validation cycles, PRECISE aims to learn generalisable biological rules that explain and predict cancer vulnerabilities across diverse tumour types and biological contexts, including settings that have never been experimentally investigated.
Andrea Sottoriva, Head of the Computational Biology Research Centre at Human Technopole, says: “Can we stay one step ahead of cancer by anticipating its next moves? That is precisely the ambition of PRECISE: to help transform oncology from a reactive discipline into a predictive one.”
HT contributes to this effort through the expertise of the research groups led by Francesco Iorio, Andrea Sottoriva, Piero Carninci, and Nereo Kalebic, whose work spans computational biology, machine learning, functional genomics, pharmacogenomics, and cancer evolution. Together with the other PRECISE partners, they are helping shape the experimental and computational foundations of this new European framework for predictive cancer functional genomics.
Francesco Iorio, Senior Research Group Leader in the Computational Biology Research Centre and first author of this commentary, explains: “Cancer biology is entering a predictive era. PRECISE brings together Europe’s leading expertise in functional genomics, AI, and computational biology to move beyond describing cancer vulnerabilities towards anticipating them. Our ambition is to develop generalisable models that can guide experiments, accelerate therapeutic discovery, and ultimately extend the reach of precision oncology.”
PRECISE is also committed to open science. The consortium promotes common experimental standards, interoperable analytical pipelines, and FAIR data principles to ensure that datasets and computational tools can be shared, integrated, and reused across the international research community.
“PRECISE is much more than a consortium: it is a shared scientific vision,” emphasises Francesco Iorio. “Bringing together so many outstanding scientists around a common ambition is both inspiring and energising, and this collaborative spirit will be essential for tackling scientific questions that no single laboratory could address alone.”
By unifying complementary expertise in experimental biology, computational modelling, and AI within a coordinated European network, PRECISE aims to accelerate the transition towards predictive cancer research. The publication of the Nature Genetics commentary marks the formal launch of this scientific vision and the beginning of a coordinated European effort to redefine how cancer vulnerabilities are discovered, understood, and ultimately translated into precision therapies.
Further information about the consortium, its principle, and its goals is available on the PRECISE web portal.
