Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM)

16/12/2025

Applications for the 2026 Leena Peltonen School of Human Genetics are now open! 📢

Founded in 2011 to honor the pioneering Finnish geneticist Leena Peltonen (1952–2010), this summer school offers an unparalleled opportunity to learn and be inspired from the leading voices in human genomics. Students gain insights and inspiration from top scientists across academia and industry who are actively advancing the field.

The school brings together ~20 leading researchers in human genetics and ~20 late-stage PhD students for an immersive, discussion-driven "science summer camp" focused on the future of genomics.

A unique feature is the personalized one-on-one mentoring where participants receive advice on publishing, research strategies, and career development for both academic and industry paths.

📅 When? July 26-30, 2026
📍 Where? Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
📝 Apply by: March 6, 2026
🌐 For more information and to apply, visit: https://lpshg.com/

10/12/2025

FinnGen study, hosted by FIMM/University of Helsinki, is looking for a Software Developer.

If you are interested in working on high-impact software solutions that empower researchers in academia and industry to analyse and visualise extensive genomic and health data, this position is for you!

As a Software Developer, you will play a critical role in:

-Developing Tools: Create computational tools and web UIs for efficient data browsing and visualisation.

-Building Infrastructure: Implement big data analysis solutions to support complex queries and visualisations.

-Pipeline Development: Design data-analysis pipelines for robust and reproducible processing of large datasets.

Read more and apply no later than 30 January, 2026:

🔗 https://jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki-Software-Developer-at-FinnGen/1347659657/

09/12/2025

Even as December days grow short, there’s great news to share from FIMM!

Arafath Najumudeen, FIMM-EMBL Group Leader, has been awarded a highly competitive ERC Consolidator Grant. Warm congratulations on this outstanding achievement!

His funded project "UPTAKE" is only the second Consolidator Grant awarded under LS4 Health and Disease panel in Finland.

The project investigates how intestinal cancer acquires the nutrients it needs, focusing on how cells regulate this process through surface proteins known as solute carriers (SLCs). Using the intestine as a model, the project aims to develop methods to understand how nutrient acquisition affects cancer cell behavior in living tissues.

Read more about his project and other recent ERC successes at the University of Helsinki:
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/life-sciences/esteemed-eu-grants-worth-eu2-million-go-five-university-helsinki-researchers

08/12/2025

The Research Council of Finland 's subcommittee for Thematic Research has made the funding decisions on thematically targeted funding calls.

Warm congratulations to FIMM Group Leaders Nina Mars and Hanna M. Ollila, who both received funding through the call aimed at strengthening clinical research and generating new research knowledge to support social welfare and healthcare, disease treatment, diagnostics, prevention or business activity.

Nina's project "Individualized Screening for Glaucoma Using Genetics to Preserve Vision (iSCREEN-G)" is a collaboration with Joni Turunen/Helsinki University Central Hospital.

Hanna works with Markus Ramste & Enni Sanmark and their project is titled "Early Detection and Diagnosis of Sleep Disorders and Comorbidities through Integrated Risk Prediction".

The Research Council of Finland’s (RCF) Subcommittee for Thematic Research has made the funding decisions on four thematically targeted funding calls. The total funding comes to nearly 37 million euros. The targeted calls were based on the 2025 state budget, which had also allocated funding fo...

06/12/2025

Today, Finland is celebrating its 108th Independence Day. On this occasion, the President of the Republic, Alexander Stubb, in his role as the Grand Master of Finland’s three orders, has awarded Professor, Research Director Olli Kallioniemi the decoration of Knight First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. Our warmest congratulations!

03/12/2025

Upcoming FIMM dissertation! 📢

Jakob German will defend his doctoral dissertation "Genetically-Informed Real-World Evidence and Trial Design" in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, on 12 December 2025 at 13:00.

Assistant Professor Linda Kachuri, Stanford University, will serve as the opponent, and Associate Professor Andrea Ganna as the custos. The thesis has been supervised by Andrea Ganna and Anthony Philippakis, PhD (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard).

The thesis illustrates the potential and limitations of integrating genetic information into real-world evidence frameworks. It demonstrates that genetics can strengthen the credibility of real-world analyses by exposing residual confounding and by clarifying when treatment effects are consistent across populations.

The public examination will take place at the following address: Oral and Dental Centre, hall H3.034 (Topeliuksenkatu 30). Welcome!

Event page: https://tapahtumat.helsinki.fi/en-FI/page/6913c39afafad1b3a6d5d2a1/jakob-german-genetically-informed-real-world-evidence-and-trial-design

E-thesis: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/603632

02/12/2025

New study from Helena Kilpinen's group shows that image-based phenotypic features from stem cell-derived neurons can reveal disease-relevant biology and genetic risk for brain disorders.

The research team used Cell Painting approach to uncover disease-relevant features in human brain cells grown in the laboratory. They profiled over 60,000 stem cell-derived cortical neurons across three developmental timepoints.

By modeling the relationship between image-based features and gene expression, Adithi Sundaresh, Dimitri Meistermann and others created a proof-of-concept framework that links what cells look like with biological processes underlying diseases.

The study also showed that genes associated with cell morphological features could capture heritability for brain-related traits. This opens up new possibilities for using image-based cellular features to interpret genetic risk in complex diseases.

New study from the University of Helsinki shows that image-based phenotypic features from stem cell-derived neurons can reveal disease-relevant biology and genetic risk for brain disorders.

28/11/2025

Vuoden 2025 Maud Kuistilan palkinto on myönnetty FIMMin tutkimusjohtaja Aarno Palotielle. Lämpimät onnittelut!

Maud Kuistilan palkinto jaetaan vuosittain ansioituneelle lääketieteen tutkijoiden kouluttajalle tutkijayhteisön tekemien ehdotusten perusteella.

Palotie on ohjannut ansiokkaasti lukuisia aloittelevia tutkijoita ja tukenut heidän urakehitystään. Palotietä kiitetään myös siitä, että hänen tukensa ohjattaville jatkuu myös väitöstutkimuksen valmistumisen jälkeen. Erityisesti aloittelevat tutkimusryhmän johtajat arvostavat kokeneen mentorinsa tukea, joka helpottaa uusiin tutkimushaasteisiin tarttumista.

Geenitutkimuksen uranuurtajana tunnetun Palotien käynnistämä FinnGen-hanke on tarjonnut useille nuorille tutkijoille mahdollisuuden tehdä korkeatasoista tutkimusta kansainvälisessä tiedeyhteisössä. Palotien johtamien hankkeiden sanotaan luoneen Suomeen jopa uudenlaisen tutkijahautomon. Tällä hetkellä FinnGenin lääketieteellistä geenitietopankkia hyödyntää Suomessa jo yli 500 tutkijaa.

Lue lisää palkinnosta: https://mkmsaatio.fi/1348-2/

Maud Kuistilan muistosäätiön artikkeli ja Aarno Palotien haastattelu:
https://mkmsaatio.fi/artikkelit/

28/11/2025

The Young Investigator of the Month honor at FIMM highlights a FIMM doctoral or postdoctoral researcher each month for a recent significant accomplishment.

The Young Investigator for October 2025 is Toni Saari. Warm congratulations to him for his recent first-author publication, “Validity of telephone-administered word list learning measures for assessment of episodic memory in aging and Alzheimer's disease”, in Neuropsychiology! 🎉

Toni is a postdoctoral researcher at FIMM in Eero Vuoksimaa’s research group. His research focuses on early behavioral, cognitive and biological markers of Alzheimer’s disease using Finnish twin data and Alzheimer’s disease datasets.

https://www.helsinki.fi/en/hilife-helsinki-institute-life-science/units/fimm/training-fimm/young-investigators-month

27/11/2025

FIMM is investing in innovation!

Our internal pilot call for innovation-driven projects drew 18 high-quality applications. The proposals were so strong that we expanded the number of funded projects from five to ten.

These pilots directly support FIMM’s goal to accelerate technological and methodological innovation, helping our community develop impactful new research tools and approaches.

Cheers to the team leaders of the funded pilot projects:
Kati Donner, Caroline Heckman, Romika Kumari, Sergey Kuznetsov, Johan Lundin, Astrid Murumägi, Lassi Paavolainen, Esa Pitkänen, Ziaurrehman Tanoli and Markus Vähä-Koskela.

The projects will run from 1 Dec 2025 to 31 May 2026, with results presented during the Innovation Session at our next FIMM Retreat in June 2026.

25/11/2025

Warm congratulations to all FIMM-affiliated researchers receiving Cancer Foundation Finland's 2025 grants!

Heidi Haikala and her group: Spatial determinants of immunotherapy resistance in lung cancer

Esa Pitkänen and his group: Next-Gen Software for Multimodal Precision Oncology in Clinical Practice and Research

Mika Kontro and his group: Venetoclax resistance in AML – from mechanisms to treatment strategies

Caroline Heckman and her group: Morphological mapping of acute myeloid leukemia for improved diagnostics and treatment

And special applause for our dissertation grant recipients: Nemo Ikonen and ANKITA SRIVASTAVA

On behalf of the FIMM grant recipients, we thank the Cancer Foundation Finland for this vital support!

Read more: https://syopasaatio.fi/tutkimus/tutkijalle/syopasaation-myontamat-apurahat-2025/

24/11/2025

Come to Finland, join the ELLIS Institute and the University of Helsinki as an Associate/Assistant/Full Professor in Computational Precision Health!

We are a partner of ELLIS Institute, which is now hiring principal investigators in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The Faculty of Medicine and FIMM/Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) are looking for qualified candidates to carry out research in precision health motivated machine learning, with a focus on:
🟢 Foundation models for longitudinal electronic health record (EHR) data, and/or
🟢 Novel methods for multimodal prediction of disease onset, treatment response and prognosis

ELLIS Institute PI recruitment is open until January 12, 2026.
Details and applications at:
https://www.ellisinstitute.fi/PI-recruit-2026

Professorship position description:
https://www.ellisinstitute.fi/pi-positions-2026 #11-university-of-helsinki--university-of-helsinki--assistant-associate-full-professor-in-computational-precision-health

Call for new P*s in artificial intelligence and machine learning