Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM)

07/11/2025

Congratulations to Tero Aittokallio on securing funding from the Research Council of Finland through its 2025 Proof of Concept call!

This week, the Research Council granted a total of 9.7 million euros to 27 projects in the 2025 Proof of Concept call. This funding scheme supports research projects in taking their ideas towards commercialisation and generating other societal impact. The projects start on 1 January 2026 and run for two years.

Tero Aittokallio’s project, “Patient-tailored, effective and safe combinatorial therapies”, is based on a close collaboration with clinicians, computational and cancer researchers. It will test a predictive platform that identifies patient-tailored treatment options in terms of its technical feasibility and clinical relevance.

Combination therapies are often needed to improve treatment outcomes of cancer patients. However, systematic approaches to identify maximally effective and safe combinatorial treatments for individual patients are lacking.

The project is expected to lead to increased treatment efficacy, and reduced use of ineffective therapies and adverse effects, which currently lead to significant individual suffering and economic burden for the society.

Read more: https://www.aka.fi/en/about-the-rcf/whats-new/press-releases/2025/research-council-of-finland-selects-projects-to-promote-research-utilisation/

31/10/2025

Warm congratulations to Professor, Research Director Olli Kallioniemi, who received the Biomedicum Helsinki Medal following his inspiring lecture "Data and AI Shaping the Future of Precision Medicine in Finland" at Biomedicum Helsinki Day 2025 on 29 October!

We also extend our congratulations to all FIMM-affiliated Biomedicum Helsinki Foundation grantees:

Clinical Post-Doctoral Grant: Satu Strausz

Young Investigator´s Grants: Yingjia Chen, Gabin Drouard, Yu Fu, Ziqi Kang

Startup Grants: Rosabella Hartman, Ziaurrehman Tanoli

We also want to highlight Inga-Maria Launonen from Anniina Färkkilä's group who received the Biomedicum Helsinki Foundation Prize 2025 on an exceptional recent scientific publication.

As this list may not be complete, please feel free to add a comment if someone is missing — we’d love to celebrate everyone’s achievements!

https://biomedicum.com/participate/biomedicum-helsinki-day-2025/

27/10/2025

Biomedicum Helsinki Day 2025 takes place on Wednesday, 29 October (15:00–17:00) at Biomedicum Helsinki, Lecture Hall 2.

Research Director, Professor Olli Kallioniemi will deliver the Biomedicum Helsinki Lecture 2025, titled "Data and AI Shaping the Future of Precision Medicine in Finland.”

Welcome!

Event page: https://biomedicum.com/participate/biomedicum-helsinki-day-2025/

24/10/2025

We hosted the closing seminar of the Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (CoECDG) at Kalastajatorppa, Helsinki on Oct 22, 2025. The event brought together leading researchers to reflect on key discoveries and discuss the future of genomic and complex disease research.

Led by FIMM Director Professor Samuli Ripatti, the Centre has been a flagship initiative supported by the Research Council of Finland since 2018. We are deeply grateful for their long-term support, which has enabled major scientific advances and strengthened international collaboration.

The day featured inspiring talks and discussions by:
🧬 Samuli Ripatti (FIMM)
🧬 Aarno Palotie (FIMM)
🧬 Mark Daly (Broad Institute, USA)
🧬 Ramnik Xavier (Broad Institute, USA)
🧬 Andrea Ganna (FIMM)
🧬 Simone Rubinacci (FIMM)
🧬 Nina Mars (FIMM)
🧬 Elisabeth Widen (FIMM)
🧬 Tuuli Lappalainen (SciLife Lab, Sweden)
🧬 Ruth Loos (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

The program concluded with a thought-provoking panel discussion, “Towards a Nordic Genome Project,” moderated by Olli Kallioniemi, exploring opportunities for future Nordic collaboration in genomics and precision medicine.

A heartfelt thank you also to the CoECDG Principal Investigators - Samuli Ripatti, Tiinamaija Tuomi, Mark Daly, Aarno Palotie, Jaakko Kaprio, Matti Pirinen, Elisabeth Widen, Benjamin Neale, Martti Färkkilä, Olli Pietiläinen, and Leif Groop - for their leadership and scientific contributions throughout the Centre’s journey.

Special thanks to the organizing committee (Mahesh Tambe, PhD, Elissar Azzi, Juha Riikonen, Susanna Rosas, Anna Hakala, Sari Kivikko, Fiona Hagenbeek, Marika Kaakinen and Tuomo Hartonen) for their outstanding efforts in making the event a success.

As the CoE funding period comes to an end, the event celebrated a legacy of scientific excellence and international partnerships. Looking ahead, we are excited to build on these achievements, advancing genomic research and translating discoveries into clinical insights and improved health outcomes.

20/10/2025

Upcoming FIMM dissertation! 📢

Dimitrios Tsallos will defend his doctoral dissertation "Translational research strategies for optimizing treatment safety and efficacy in hematologic cancers" in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, on 24 October 2025 at 13:00.

Project Group Leader Sigrid Skånland, Oslo University Hospital, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo, Norway, will serve as the opponent, and Professor Kimmo Porkka as the custos. The thesis has been supervised by Research Director Caroline Heckman.

The public examination will take place at the following address: Haartman Institute, Lecture Hall 1, Haartmaninkatu 3. Welcome!

In this dissertation, Dimitrios developed and applied translational research tools, leveraging multi-omic datasets, to support the development of safer, more effective therapies for hematological malignancies. The findings have direct implications for both drug development and clinical practice.

Link to the event page: https://tapahtumat.helsinki.fi/en-FI/page/68e59f1afafad1b3a616d152/dimitrios-tsallos-translational-research-strategies-for-optimizing-treatment-safety-and

Read the thesis here: https://helda.helsinki.fi/items/d137a469-fa0c-44e2-8446-93b1abeb091a

20/10/2025

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 September 2025 is Joseph Saad. Warm congratulations for his recent first author publication, “Predictors of response and rational combinations for the novel MCL-1 inhibitor MIK665 in acute myeloid leukemia” in Molecular Oncology! 🎉

Joseph is a doctoral researcher affiliated with both Caroline Heckman’s Translational Research and Personalized Medicine and Mika Kontro’s Individualized Therapies for Acute Leukemia groups. His doctoral research is focused on the identification and mechanistic validation of molecular biomarkers of response to approved or investigational therapies for acute myeloid leukemia.

17/10/2025

Warm congratulations to FIMM Doctoral Researcher Yu Fu who has been awarded the American Journal of Human Genetics Award for Outstanding Trainee Publication!

This award recognizes research excellence from ASHG members who are completing their doctoral or postdoctoral training.

Yu was awarded for her recent first author publication “Role of X chromosome and dosage-compensation mechanisms in complex trait genetics” at an awards ceremony during the ASHG Annual Meeting in Boston this week.

In this study, Yu, Taru Tukiainen, Aino Kenttämies, Sanni Ruotsalainen & Matti Pirinen systematically assessed the relevance of X chromosome and the effect of its biology on complex traits by analyzing 48 quantitative traits in the UK Biobank with replication in >410,000 individuals from FinnGen.

Read more here: https://www.ashg.org/publications-news/ashg-news/ashg-announces-2025-society-journal-award-recipients/

Link to the awarded publication:
https://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(25)00145-4

17/10/2025

Upcoming FIMM dissertation! 📢

Gabin Drouard will defend his doctoral dissertation "Twin Designs and Multi-omics - A Paired Approach to Unraveling Sources of Health Variation" in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, on 23 October 2025 at 13:00.

Prof. Ruth Loos, University of Copenhagen, will serve as the opponent, and Prof. Matti Pirinen as the custos. The thesis has been supervised by Professors Jaakko Kaprio, Samuli Ripatti and Matti Pirinen.

The public examination will take place at the following address: Biomedicum 1, Hall 1, Haartmaninkatu 8. Welcome!

In this dissertation, Gabin integrated multiple layers of omics data with twin study designs, in order to examine how these omics layers reflect health variation and to quantify the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to these associations.

The dissertation focuses on two well-established indicators of health: body mass index (BMI) and biological aging. Furthermore, he applied classical twin modeling to estimate the heritability of >2000 blood proteins in a sample of 60-year-old twins.

Link to the event page: https://tapahtumat.helsinki.fi/en-FI/page/68d71e9bfafad1b3a6d3c71f/gabin-drouard-twin-designs-and-multi-omics

Read the thesis here: https://helda.helsinki.fi/items/cf85117b-88b7-416f-b9ab-59efa8ddf0cc

16/10/2025

Last week, FIMM was strongly represented at the joint retreat of Biocenter Finland’s Genome-Wide Methods (GWM), Single Cell, and Bioinformatics platforms, held at Hämeenkylä Manor in Vantaa.

In total, 24 participants from FIMM attended the event, which brought together thirteen infrastructure nodes presenting their technologies and expertise from across Finland.

FIMM’s technology platforms were showcased through presentations by our experts:

- FIMM Genomics – Kati Donner and Outi Monni
- Single Cell Analytics – Päivi Lahermo
- Biodata Analytics Unit – Esa Pitkänen

One of the highlights of the retreat was the talk given by Priit Palta from the Estonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, on the multiomics approach implemented in the Estonian Biobank.

The retreat, organised by Outi Monni, highlighted the need to enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing across nodes and technology platforms, strengthening the foundation for impactful national and international research.

13/10/2025

Tekoäly voi merkittävästi lisätä naisten elintärkeiden diagnostiikkapalveluiden saatavuutta vähäresurssisissa ympäristöissä. Tämä kuitenkin onnistuu vain, mikäli lisäksi investoidaan infrastruktuuriin, työntekijöiden kouluttamiseen ja paikallisten yhteisöjen osallistamiseen.

Tämä on professori Nina Linderin, professori Johan Lundinin ja kansainvälisen tutkijaryhmän kirjoittaman tuoreen artikkelin keskeinen johtopäätös. Artikkeli perustuu tekoälyä hyödyntävän kohdunkaulansyövän seulonnan käytännön toteutukseen Keniassa ja Tansaniassa.

Artikkeli julkaistiin British Medical Journalissa (BMJ) 10. lokakuuta 2025 osana Women’s Health Innovation -teemajulkaisua, joka on toteutettu yhteistyössä Gates-säätiön kanssa.

Tekoäly (AI) voi merkittävästi lisätä naisten elintärkeiden diagnostiikkapalveluiden saatavuutta vähäresurssisissa ympäristöissä. Tämä kuitenkin onnistuu vain, jos lisäksi investoidaan infrastruktuuriin, työntekijöiden kouluttamiseen ja paikallisten yhteisöjen osallistamiseen.

10/10/2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) can significantly improve access to life-saving diagnostics for women’s health in low-resource settings—but only when paired with investments in infrastructure, workforce development and community engagement.

This is the key conclusion of a new publication in the British Medical Journal by Nina Linder, Johan Lundin and an international team of researchers, based on real-world implementation of AI-supported cervical cancer screening in Kenya and Tanzania.

The paper was published in BMJ as part of a special Collection on Women’s Health Innovation, developed in partnership with the Gates Foundation.

The Collection is comprised of seven woman-led analysis articles and explores how technological, social and systemic innovations can transform women’s health globally.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can significantly improve access to life-saving diagnostics for women’s health in low-resource settings—but only when paired with investments in infrastructure, workforce development and community engagement.

08/10/2025

A preprint on ageing-related epigenetic changes, co-authored by FIMM researchers Miina Ollikainen and Aino Heikkinen, was recently featured in the news section of Nature.

In this preprint, the researchers present a new global atlas of epigenetic changes, mapping how our DNA ages across 17 different human tissues, from brain to liver to skin.

Overall, the researchers found that the mean amount of methylation varies greatly between tissues. However, they also found several genes that had methylation changes that were strong biological markers of ageing across several tissues.

The researchers hope that their atlas will serve as a resource to facilitate the discovery of new molecular targets for anti-ageing therapies.

Read more:

A map of DNA methylation changes in human organs could help researchers to discover more targets for anti-ageing therapies.