MOLECULAR MEDICINE RESEARCH CENTRE FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

The Ministry of Education will assign the University of Helsinki with the task of preparing the administrative structure and functional organisation of a research centre for molecular medicine, genetics and epidemiology to be established in the University of Helsinki.

In the preparation and operation of the centre, it is essential to utilise the competence of the Turku Centre for Biotechnology as well as to cooperate with other biocentres (Biocentrum Helsinki, the Institute of Biotechnology/University of Helsinki, Biocity Turku, Biocenter Oulu, the Institute of Medical Technology/University of Tampere and the A.I. Virtanen Institute/ University of Kuopio) and other actors in the field.

The University of Helsinki was chosen as the location for the new research centre because of its extensive, internationally top-level research that covers all the fields of the new centre. The Finnish Genome Center hosted by the University of Helsinki will further intensify its operations and profile. The University of Helsinki also has the prerequisites to create an internationally appealing research environment with a sufficient critical mass.

The Molecular Medicine Research Centre will develop into an international research institute and start networking with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and research centres and units operating in other Nordic countries. The establishment of the new centre will be a joint undertaking of Finnish biocentres and an important part of the development of the entire biocentre network.

The Biotechnology 2005 group of the Ministry of Education proposed last autumn that an international research centre for molecular medicine, genetics and epidemiology be established in Finland, either in Helsinki or Turku. The Ministry of Education made the decision on the basis of the preliminary plans for the research centre by the Universities of Helsinki and Turku and after having heard the central actors in the field.

Further information:

- Director General Arvo Jäppinen, tel: (09) 160 77220
- Counsellor of Education Marja Pulkkinen, tel: (09) 160 77223