The Academy of Finland published the list of research infrastructures to be included in the Roadmap of National Research Infrastructures 2021-2024. Biocenter Finland was granted the Roadmap status with an overall rating “Excellent”. This list included altogether 29 high-level research infrastructures.
The international evaluation panel stated: “The unique structure and level of coordination that BF as an RI has today, serves as an example for the efficient use of resources and the increased joint impact of combined infrastructures and know-how. Internationally, BF is a well-recognized example for the support of public life science research”.
The panel acknowledged both the excellent technology platforms as well as the quality and efficiency coordination: “While …, the biggest synergies are achieved within the 15 platforms, the fact that an overarching structure exists to address common issues and constraints by all partner universities, provides benefits at the strategic and financial level well beyond the nodes and platforms.”
The next key step for Biocenter Finland in its mission to support frontier research in Finland is to apply for instrument investment funding in the FIRI Call in Spring 2021. The decision on which instruments to apply for is based on consultation of the research community, advise of the Scientific Advisory Board and on the technology platforms’ proposals. In line with the BF policy, all new equipment and technologies will be openly accessible to all researcher in Finland as well as non-university users.
Academy of Finland’s FIRI Calls are the major funding source for nationally important instrument investments to research infrastructures of all scientific and scholarly disciplines. The FIRI2020 Call "Research Infrastructures as Collaborative Platforms" was targeted specifically to strengthen collaboration with the business sector and industry partners.
Biocenter Finland’s proposal of 2,5 M€ was fully funded. Together with the host universities’ share (30%), the total amount available for the investments is 3,5 M€. This resource is targeted to the following Biocenter Finland Competence Centers for Research and Innovation, operating in five of the BF host universities:
Competence Center for Advanced Single Cell Analytics, University of Helsinki
HT Flow cytometer and incubator
10X Genomics Chromium Connect
AI-guided autopatcher, CAMI, and manipulator platform
Profiling Platform for Lipid Metabolites, University of Helsinki and University of Turku
Ultimate sensitivity LC-MS/MS System
Triple Quadrupole MS/MS detector, UHPLC-equipment, and a multisampler for automatic sample injection
Collaborative Industrial Platform for Proteomics, University of Helsinki, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University
FAIMS Pro Interface
ZipChip Interface
Integrative nano-sensitizer for nanoLC-MS connection
NanoDroplet sample treatment Assembly
Ultimate 3000 RSLCnano System
Orbitrap Exploris MS upgrade
Viral Vector Production and Testing Services, University of Eastern Finland, University of Helsinki, and Tampere University
Becton-Dickinson: FACS Melody cell sorter
Olympus IXplore Live Fluorescent Microscope
Beckman Cytoflex Table top flow cytometer
The industry and business partners of these Competence Centers amount to 7 international and 14 Finnish companies.
The BF technology services supporting frontier science are available to the entire Finnish research community in the Life Sciences based on an open-access principle.
BF applies FIRI funding for the most needed technologies according to a strategic long-term investment plan. The choice of the equipment to be funded is based on consultation of the scientific community, and informed by assessment of the quality and needs of the Platforms carried out by BF’s international Scientific Advisory Board.
Biocenter Finland's Technology Platforms support innovations, education, and several hundred publications annually. See some of the recent highlights here.
FinGMice: a network within Finnish universities providing services and expertise in generation and analysis of genetically modified mice Organizes a Webinar
“Boost your research - national mouse clinic network”
Session 1. Generation and selection of GM mouse models Session 2. In vivo phenotyping Session 3. Pathological analysis of GM mice Session 4. Translational value of GM mouse models
The ARISE fellowship programme offers fellowships for experienced professionals with a background in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) who wish to advance technology development in the life sciences and receive training to operate life science research infrastructures, which provide novel technologies as a service for life scientists.
Weekly Frontiers of Science (FoS) seminars bring BioCity Turku researchers together to listen to prominent international scientists. The autumn 2020 seminars will be arranged online as eTALKs. The Frontiers of Science seminar series was started in 1998. The aim is to bring top scientists to present their recent achievements on various fields ranging from biology, cell and molecular biology and biotechnology to material and computational sciences. Although the speakers are specialists, the lectures are usually given on moderately general level for their intelligibility.
The Turku Proteomics Facility seeks an ambitious senior research fellow (tenure track) to lead the Proteomics Facility at Turku Bioscience Centre. The successful candidate will be responsible for service activities and technology platform development at the core facility. He or she will be expected to establish an independent research group through competitive external funding and to support methods development at the core. The research activity is expected to be at an internationally competitive level and includes mandatory supervision of Master of Science and doctoral students from the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University.
The molecular life sciences have a central role in delivering new treatments or vaccines against Sars-CoV-2. EMBL has re-purposed existing facilities to provide a range of direct research and support services, including in partnership with institutes in Member States.
This document provides a summary of EMBL coronavirus-related research and service activity as at 20 April 2020, and will be updated as additional projects receive necessary safety and scientific approvals.
Academy of Finland’s FIRI Calls are the major funding source for nationally important instrument investments to research infrastructures of all scientific and scholarly disciplines. Academy of Finland’s FIRI Committee published on 21 January 2020 its funding decisions on the FIRI2019 Call.
Biocenter Finland’s proposal of 2,7 M€ was fully funded. Together with the host universities’ share (30%), the total amount available for the BF Technology Platforms is 3,9 M€. This resource is targeted to the following BF Technology Platforms, operating in three of the six BF host universities (in brackets):
BioImaging Platform: Focused ion-beam SEM for high-resolution 3D-modelling (UH)
Genome-wide Methods Platform: PacBio Sequel II for single-molecule sequencing (UH)
FinGMice Platform: Pipeline for mouse phenotyping (UO, UH, UTU)
Proteomics Platform: Orbitrap Tribrid MS for spatial proteomics (UH)
The BF technology services supporting frontier science are available to the entire Finnish research community in the Life Sciences and Biomedical Sciences, based on an open-access principle.
BF applies FIRI funding for the most needed technologies according to a strategic long-term investment plan. The choice of the funding target is based on consultation of the scientific community, and informed by assessment of the quality and needs of the Platforms carried out by BF’s international Scientific Advisor Board. The BF Technology Platforms coordinate their services nationally to enable specialization of the Platform’s Nodes and to support the host universities’ research profiling.
BF has been successful in FIRI funding calls for several years. The previously attracted resources strengthened genomics and viral vector production (FIRI2018), proteomics, metabolomics, and single-cell omics (FIRI2016) and light microscopy (FIRI2015). The next FIRI call will open in 2021.
Biocenter Finland organises a Nature Masterclass course for 60 PhD students and post-docs working in the BF host universities (Universities of Eastern Finland, Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere, Turku, and Åbo Akademi). The course takes place on November 28 and 29 in Helsinki.
The participants will experience a full-day Nature Masterclass workshop where Nature editors provide hands-on, practical training for publishing in top tier journals. This session will provide a unique overview of the publishing process of highly selective journals. The editors will share their expert insight into what makes an exemplary paper and will discuss how participants can improve their scientific writing skills to create a polished manuscript ready for publication. The course is free of charge for the participants.
BF has opened a call for the current platform’s as well as new openings to apply to BF for the term 2021-2024. The platform applications are evaluated by an external SAB of international experts. The deadline of the call is November 22. As a result of the evaluation, the SAB will make a recommendation of the platforms’ key personnel salary funding. BF Board will make a proposal to the host universities’ rectors for such strategic funding accordingly.
For further information, please contact Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.
Proteopedia: a versatile tool for structural biology research and teaching
As part of a PDBe-Proteopedia joint project, under the auspices of ELIXIR, there will be seminars at the University of Oulu where the Proteopedia tools for researchers and teachers will be explained.
Wednesday, February 27 University of Oulu, FBMM, Aapistie 7A, Oulu F101, 10:00(sharp)-13:00):
Tuomo Glumoff (University of Oulu) “open university” teaching at Oulu University
Joel Sussman (Weizmann), Proteopedia: a tool for teaching and research
Mihaly Varadi (EBI) (PDBe-KB and Proteopedia)
Coffee break
Jaime Prilusky (Weizmann), Technical features of Proteopedia for use in research, and in teaching
Brainstorming how to benefit from Proteopedia for teaching and research
On February 28 there will be the possibility to make your own Proteopedia page with help from the experts. If you would like to participate please contact Rik Wierenga (Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.).
ELIXIR Innovation and SME Forum: Genomics and Associated Data in National Healthcare Initiatives
This free ELIXIR Innovation and SME Forum with a focus on Genomics and Associated Data in National Healthcare Initiatives in Stockholm is open to researchers working in the personalised medicine sector, large and small companies that develop services for healthcare systems or are users of genomics and/or associated data, as well as people involved in national healthcare initiatives and anyone else who is interested in learning more about data-driven innovation in the healthcare sector. It aims to inform about ELIXIR resources and create a space to network for industry and academia.
Biocenter Finland received 1.83 M€ funding from the Academy of Finland’s FIRI2018 call for national research infrastructure investments. This is the full amount applied for. The received funding is for two Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencing instruments and an iCellis500 bioreactor system for viral vector production. All of the instruments and related services will be openly accessible to all of Finland’s ~17,000 Life Science researchers.
To identify the investment targets, Biocenter Finland consulted the Finnish Life Science community: ERC grantees, Academy Professors, and Centre of Excellence directors and received proposals from the Biocenter Finland technology platforms.
Biocenter Finland is currently preparing for the FIRI2019 call.
For more information on the new services, please contact the technology platform chairs:
Biocenter Finland welcomes two new members into it’s governing board.
University of Oulu nominated Professor Lauri Eklund, director of the Biocenter Oulu Infrastructure Unit, as the university’s representative in the Biocenter Finland board from 1.1.2019. Professor Johanna Uusimaa is the deputy member.
University of Helsinki nominated Professor Mark Daly, director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, and Professor Olli Silvennoinen, director of Insitute of Biomedicine, as the University of Helsinki representatives. Professor Tomi Mäkelä director of Helsinki Institute of Life Science HiLIFE continues as the third UH board member. Deputies are Professor Janna Saarela, Professor Sarah Butcher and Dr. Maria Vartiainen.
The Biocenter Finland Annual Report 2017 has been published. Please see the report for information on Biocenter Finland services, scientific success stories, and more.
On 5 October, more than 170 Finnish researchers and EMBL alumni gathered at the Biomedicum in Helsinki to discover and share the latest scientific opportunities available at EMBL’s six sites. Here Marja Makarow, director of Biocenter Finland and event co-organiser, talks about her own scientific journey. During her long-standing career, Marja has fostered international and diverse research environments – and she was keen to share these experiences with scientists throughout Finland...
CoMO educational days – Reproducibility and reliability of animal experiments 19.-20.11.2018, Helsinki
This mini-symposium is organized by Comprehensive Model Organisms (CoMO) infrastructure platform at the Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE). Students can receive ECTS credits as follows: 1 ECTS for attendance and pre-assignment, 2 ECTS for attendance and workshop. Contact Satu Kuure (satu.kuure-at-helsinki.fi) for further information concerning the pre-assignment and enrolment to the workshop (based on motivation letters).
Synopsis. Animal models have a crucial role in modern biomedicine and basic research. However, they are under scrutiny by public and authorities whereas reproducibility and reliability of animal experiments has emerged as a major topic of discussion in scientific community. With this meeting, CoMO is introducing itself as an instrument for supporting researchers in all aspects of studies involving model organisms. Top-level speakers are invited to open the discussion related to basic but often underestimated issues in science – planning, conducting and reporting of animal experiments.
What: This one-day symposium organised by HiLIFE - Helsinki Institute of Life Science will showcase uses of cryo-EM (cryogenic electron microscopy) in studying biological mechanisms at different levels of complexity - ranging from macromolecules to cells. Distinguished international speakers will discuss how cryo-EM is now helping to understand illness and how it is starting to inform drug discovery. We welcome anyone who is interested in hearing about cutting-edge science and methods bridging cell biology, neuroscience, biochemistry, virology, and microbiology. Please save the date, more information will follow soon:
Kay Grunewald (Center for Structural Systems Biology, Hamburg)
Wanda Kukulski (MRC LMB, Cambridge)
Tzviya Zeev Ben Mordehai (Utrecht University)
Peijun Zhang (eBIC and University of Oxford)
To whom: Students, post docs, staff. Anyone interested in hearing about cutting edge science and bio-imaging methods bridging cell biology, neuroscience, biochemistry, virology, and microbiology.
Biocenter Finland would like to welcome you to the EMBL in Finland event on Friday October 5, 2018 at 10-16.00 in Biomedicum Helsinki. The event is a get-together for the Finnish Life Science community and features an exciting day of science talks and discussions about resources and opportunities offered by EMBL.
Connect with current and former EMBL staff, life science researchers and students to grow networks, strengthen ties, explore collaborations and learn about state-of-the-art research infrastructures.
The speakers include current and alumni EMBL researchers and staff, EMBO members, as well as leaders in the field of research infrastructures. The event provides information on career opportunities for young researchers, so be sure to forward the invitation to your students. Some of the speakers include:
Kai Simons, Chief Executive Officer, Lipotype, Dresden; (EMBL Heidelberg, Head of Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, 1975-2000; EMBO Council Member, 2004-2009)
Mark Daly, Director, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki
Rainer Pepperkok, Head of Core Facilities, Head of Advanced Light Microscopy Core Facility, Team Leader and Senior Scientist, EMBL, Heidelberg
Howy Jacobs, EMBO Member, Professor of Molecular Biology, University of Tampere
Riitta Maijala Vice President for Research, Chair of The Finnish Research Infrastructure Committee at the Academy of Finland
The event is free of charge but registration is required. For full program and registration, please see www.embl.org/alumni/finland2018
The event is organized by Biocenter Finland and the EMBL Alumni team.
Program 9:30 Coffee (sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific) Session I Chair: Ras Trokovic 10:00-10:15 Topi Tervonen, University of Helsinki, Finland Basics of CRISPR techniques 10:15-11:00 Anna Falk, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neuroscience, Sweden iPSCs in therapy and CRISPR possibilities 11:00-11:30 Henna Tyynismaa, University of Helsinki, Finland Genome editing and disease modelling from iPSCs 11:30-11:45 Thermo Fisher Scientific – CRISPR tools and services 11:45-12:30 Lunch (sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific) Session II Chair: Topi Tervonen 12:30-13:00 Andrey Anisimov, University of Helsinki, Finland Viral gene delivery systems for genome editing 13:00-13:30 Satu Kuure, University of Helsinki, Finland Genome editing and mouse models 13:30-14:00 Jere Weltner, University of Helsinki, Finland Cellular reprogramming with CRISPR activators 14:00-14.15 Katariina Karjalainen: Practical course info (for selected students)
The 4th Instruct Biennial Structural Biology Conference, which will take place in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, from May 22 till May 24, 2019. The historical Alcalá de Henares is in addition to the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes where the Universidad Complutense was founded in 1293, one of the oldest universities in the world. Social programme of the meeting will include visit of the city, a gala dinner and extensive opportunity to network with the Instruct Structural Biology community.
Instruct is a distributed European Research Infrastructure, which provides scientists with access to all major cutting edge technologies that enable biomacromolecular structure determination at atomic resolution. Access to all of these technologies has been available to European member researchers from February 2012. The inaugural Instruct Structural Biology Meeting at Heidelberg in 2013 successfully showcased integrative structural biology and its impact on biological research and biomedicine. The second Biennial took place in Florence in 2015 continuing the integrative line with an increased focus on innovation. The last edition which took place in Brno Czech Republic included sessions representing recent structural biology highlights, emerging methods and technologies and results of biomedical importance. We have already confirmed outstanding speakers for this 4th edition and we are looking forward to see you there.
The BioCity Symposium is traditionally opening the Autumn season for bioscientists, and since summer is already here so is soon the symposium! This year the symposium is arranged 23rd–24th August in BioCity, Turku and the topic of the symposium is bioimaging – Seeing the invisible. Take a look at the Symposium trailer from here. We hope you will participate to the poster exhibition and submit a poster abstract latest 12.6.2018.
On the basis of the submitted abstracts we invite four researchers to give a short talk in the symposium. Registration dead-line to the symposium is 10.8.2018, and the ones presenting a poster have a priority to the symposium dinner banquette on 23.8.2018. The whole event is free of charge.
The Academy of Finland published the results of the Finnish Research Infrastructure Roadmap Midterm Evaluation. Biocenter Finland (BF) was placed in the best possible category – A. The overall rating was “Excellent - Extremely good in international comparison – no significant elements to be improved”.
The international panel who reviewed the infrastructures stated that Biocenter Finland supports high-quality science and supports the national research infrastructure strategy. The panel commented: “BF is an excellent Finnish resource for life-science research, which provides a key backbone to the excellency of this small country in a highly competitive field of research”.
Biocenter Finland is currently preparing an application for the FIRI2018 call. The application is based on proposals from the research community and the BF technology platforms. In line with the BF policy, all new equipment and technologies will be openly accessible to all researcher in Finland as well as non-university users.
The aim of the school is to provide graduate students with a good understanding of synchrotron facilities and why are they such a useful tool for research. To that end, the students will attend lectures, do exercises and hands-on sessions at MAX IV and engage in follow-up discussions. In addition to providing a good overview of the main instrumentation and methods aspects of such large scale facility, the school aims at emphasising the MAX IV new imaging capabilities and high coherence.
The school offers a valuable opportunity for the students to start building a network with other students, with the lecturers and the participating MAX IV scientists.
As part of the newly established Biocenter Finland Single-cell omics platform, Mass cytometry has been installed at the Turku Centre for Biotechnology. The workshop is to introduce this new technology and how it can be used in your study. This seminar will give you an introduction to mass cytometry, including a tech overview, applications, workflow and reagents, and the Hyperion Imaging System. Additionally, you will get a data presentation description of the technology service in Turku.
Participation is free of charge - no sign-up required. Refreshments will be served. Welcome everyone!
March 22nd at 10:00 BTK 5th floor seminar room
Andrius Serva, PhD, Field Application Specialist, Europe, Fluidigm Discovery and Functional Profiling with Mass Cytometry High order multiplexing of biological samples – from suspension to tissue
Zhi Chen, PhD, Turku Centre for Biotechnology Helios Mass Cytometry in Turku
Organized by: Turku Centre for Biotechnology; Fluidigm; AH Diagnostic
The Board of Biocenter Finland nominated Professor Tapio Visakorpi as Chair of the Board for the term 2018-2019. Tapio Visakorpi serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Life Sciences and as Professor of Cancer Genetics at the University of Tampere. See Biosketch for more information.
Academy Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala was nominated as Vice-Chair. He is the Director of Biocenter Kuopio and Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Eastern Finland.
Structure-based and biophysical approaches are now well established in industry as major tools contributing to drug development and there is a growing interest among academic labs in applying these techniques to help develop chemical tools. New technologies for HT fragment-based screening and cryo-electron microscopy are rapidly changing the field and there is a strong potential for collaborations between scientist in industry and academia on this area. The aim of the workshop is to present the state of the art as well as to provide a meeting ground for scientist from public and private institutions. The workshop will include keynote lectures from scientist in industry and academia as well as presentations on new technologies and access opportunities within iNEXT. Abstracts from participants with a focus on areas of high translational potential will be selected for oral presentations.
Additional information and registration through this link
Dedine for registration is February 5th.
iNEXT is a consortium funded by the Horizon2020 program that is pioneering coordinated access to infrastructures for macromolecular crystallography, SAXS, NMR, electron microscopy, advanced light microscopy and biophy! sics. In addition to providing access, the consortium has established ambitious collaborative structural biology research programs to develop advanced methodologies for ligand screening, the study of membrane proteins and acquiring structural information in the context of the living cell. The iNEXT workshop will be preceded by the iNEXT Users Meeting March 19-21 2018
Biocenter Finland organised a two-day Career Workshop for 60 post-docs and PhD students on Dec 14-15 in Biomedicum Helsinki . The participants experienced a full-day Nature Masterclass workshop where two Nature editors provide hands-on, practical training for publishing in top tier journals.
On the second day, the participants attended a career opportunity and grant writing workshop that contained information about postdoctoral and PhD funding instruments of EMBO, Academy of Finland, and Marie-Sklodowska Curie Actions. The workshop included talks by grant writers sharing their best practises, as well as grant awardees who shared their experiences of launching an international career from the postdoctoral stage.
The Biocenter Finland Annual Report 2015-2016 has been published. Please see the report for information on Biocenter Finland services, scientific success stories, societal impact and more.
Course concept: Attendees of MAW will gain basics in different theoretical concepts of metabolomics and also practical knowledge on various aspects of the metabolite analysis using mass spectrometry including data processing and statistical analyses.
Venue: Biomedicum (Haartmaninkatu 8)
Organizer: Vidya Velagapudi (FIMM Metabolomics Unit) and DPBM doctoral programme
It is our pleasure to invite you to the CSSB Opening Symposium entitled “Frontiers in Structural Systems Biology of host –pathogen interactions." The symposium will take place from 13-15 November 2017 in Hamburg, Germany and will explore new frontiers in structural systems biology with a particular focus on host – pathogen interactions. The CSSB Opening Symposium will feature top-class international research talks in four scientific sessions and will end with a panel discussion on future perspectives of the field.
In July 2017 The European Commission has granted the pan-European research infrastructure Instruct the ERIC status, which stands for European Research Infrastructure Consortium. Instruct provides access to specialist research infrastructures for structural biology at different centers across Europe. In Finland the Instruct-FI structural biology network of Biocenter Finland is interacting in many ways with the Instruct structural biology community. At the moment the four major structural biology centers in Finland (Helsinki, Oulu, Joensuu, Turku) are preparing an application to the Instruct council to become accepted as a distributed Instruct Centre. Helsinki will be the national hub. Oulu coordinates the participation of Instruct-FI in iNEXT and Instruct-ULTRA. The FIRI committee of the Academy of Finland has agreed that Finland joins Instruct providing the Finnish life science researchers with funded access to the major structural biology centers in Europe. Access to Instruct facilities across Europe is essential to use large instruments, like X-ray synchrotrons and modern cryo-electron microscopes that cannot be built and maintained in all countries, but also to maintain a collaborative scientific culture that allows the dissemination of scientific expertise and methodological innovations across different laboratories. Instruct also fosters joint translational research efforts between academia and biotech to ensure the implementation of new technologies for more sustainable processes and better human health.
The Millennium Talks Workshop was co-organized by Biocenter Finland and Technology Academy Finland and supported by the Institut Francais de Finlande, the Embassy of France in Finland and the Aalto University. Keynote speakers included Professors Emmanuelle Charpentier, one of the inventors of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology, and Frances Arnold winner of the Millennium Technology Prize. The workshop discussed how technologies emanating from frontier research can be taken advantage of in industry, clinical care and in research in Finland. The workshop promoted a mind-set change amongst academic researchers, to acknowledge the importance of wider impact for society of findings of fundamental research.
The event took place on May 17-18 at the Aalto University School of Business.
Biocenter Finland was successful in the Academy of Finland’s FIRI2016 funding call with an application entitled: “Dissection of protein modifications and metabolites in single cells and diseased tissue as the 2017-2018 Focus Area of Biocenter Finland”. The funded equipment enable setting up services for identification of proteins, metabolites, and their modifications in single-cells or tissue samples. These services will be openly available from 2017-2018 on for academic and non-academic customers in Finland and abroad.
The funded equipment investments further develop and enforce the state-of-the-art technological front and throughput capacity of the existing Biocenter Finland Proteomics and Metabolomics technology platform services that are on high and increasing demand. Furthermore, novel approaches including liquid biopsy and mass cytometry technologies will be incorporated in the Biocenter Finland service portfolio.
From May-15 to May-19, 2017 we organise our iNEXT course; “X-ray and neutron diffraction studies of macromolecules: from data collection to structures” in Oulu. It is organized in the context of the iNEXT Horizon2020 project (http://www.inext-eu.org ), together with Diamond (Oxford, UK), Biocenter Oulu and the Health and Biosciences Doctoral Programme of the University of Oulu. This full course consists of lectures and tutorials. The tutorials are only for the registrated students who have initially applied to attend the full course. However the 15 lectures are free for everyone who is interested. Researchers who follow all the lectures will receive a certificate for 1 ECTS credit. A detailed program is available at http://www.oulu.fi/biocenter/instruct-nac/courses/oulu. All lectures are at the FBMM premises on the Kontinkangas campus of the University of Oulu.
Briefly, the lectures of the course will include an introduction on the methods of protein crystallography (Rupp), neutron crystallography (Oksanen/Podjarny) and SAXS/SANS-approaches (Tukkanen). Also data collection at synchrotrons (Thunnissen, Aller, Powell), new perspectives when using the new long-wavelength beamline at Diamond (Wagner) and when using XFEL-technology (Hajdu) will be addressed. Focused lectures on structure validation (Rupp), X-ray data processing with XDS (Rower) and DIALS (Waterman) and neutron data processing (Oksanen), as well as experimental phasing (Gruene) and molecular replacement phasing (Lebedev) are also included.
On behalf of the local organisers, Rik Wierenga and Lari Lehtiö
The rectors of Biocenter Finland partner Universities have nominated Professor Marja Makarow as new director of Biocenter Finland.
Marja Makarow ends her term as vice president of the Academy of Finland – the Finnish research Council in June. She is former vice rector for research, researcher training and innovation (2003-2007) and professor of applied biochemistry and molecular biology of the University of Helsinki. In 2008-2011 she served as chief executive of the European Science Foundation in Strasbourg France. She chairs Technology Academy Finland and serves on the governing board of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology EIT.
Marja Makarow will start her appointment as Biocenter Finland Director in July 2016.
Further information: Coordinator antti.siltanen(at)helsinki.fi Secretary anu.taulio(at)helsinki.fi
The Finnish structural biology annual meeting (FINNBOX) will take place on 29th August, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu Campus. Contact person Juha Rouvinen (juha.rouvinen(a)uef.fi)
The EMBO Conference focuses on fundamental and applied aspects of biocatalysis, with an emphasis on the impact that enzyme research has at the interface of biology and chemistry. The sessions will cover an array of topics including computational, chemistry and structural approaches, as well as directed evolution, bioinformatics and spectroscopic methods, aimed towards better understanding of enzyme mechanisms and mechanisms of complex multifunctional enzyme systems, in vitro and in vivo. The importance of the electrostatic and dynamical properties of enzymes will be addressed. The impact of this knowledge for drug discovery research and research on non-natural biocatalytic systems will be highlighted. Established and emerging scientists from academic and industrial settings will be available to stimulate discussion and provide perspective on the topics of this conference. We strongly encourage participation of students and postdoctoral associates, providing opportunities for discussion and networking. Oral presentations chosen from submitted poster abstracts will provide additional opportunities for discussing new and innovative ideas. The speakers are encouraged to give a brief introduction of the field in which they work and allow for sufficient time for discussion.
Biocenter Finland (www.biocenter.fi) is a distributed nation-wide infrastructure network organization for biosciences in Finland. It is governed by six partner universities; Universities of Eastern Finland, Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere, Turku and Åbo Akademi.
The mission of Biocenter Finland is to maintain and develop national technology platform services and, by this means, to support top-level research in Finland and facilitate development and acquisition of new technologies. Biocenter Finland is one of the Finnish Research Infrastructures (FIRI; current roadmap 2014–2020).
Biocenter Finland invites applications for a position of
DIRECTOR
The position is part-time (50%), and the appointment will be from March 1, 2016 to December 31, 2020.
The Director of Biocenter Finland has an important visionary position within the Finnish bioscience community. The principal task of the Director is to maintain collaboration among the host universities and facilitate the function and development of infrastructure services and their strategy within the the field of biosciences.
The responsibilities of the Director are:
• to direct and develop Biocenter Finland activities and co-ordinate the network functions among
the host universities and their biocenters
• to monitor the developments in the areas represented by Biocenter Finland as well as to maintain
and develop the network’s national and international activities
• to manage the network’s finances
• to prepare and present the issues that belong to the Board of Biocenter Finland and to implement
the Board’s decisions
The Director can have his/her own research group.
A successful candidate for the directorship is expected to be a professor or to have a doctoral degree, and to possess experience in the research fields represented by Biocenter Finland and in leadership positions. Experience in international expert positions and knowledge about international research and infrastructure policies are additional merits. English and Finnish are the working languages of Biocenter Finland.
The provisional time of commitment is 50%. The Director will be employed by the University of Helsinki acting as the Biocenter Finland coordination university currently. The salary is negotiable and commensurate with the candidate’s accomplishments within the remuneration system of the University of Helsinki.
Applications should be addressed to the Board. International experts will be used to evaluate the applicants’ accomplishments and qualifications. The Director is appointed by the Rector’s Council of Biocenter Finland based on a proposal of the Board. The contract is made with the Rector of the University of Helsinki.
The application is to include a short description (max. 3 pages) of the ways by which the applicant plans to develop Biocenter Finland activities during his/her tenure together with curriculum vitae and list of publications. The application and its appendices should be sent by January 21 at noon (+2 GMT) by email to Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen..
For additional information, please contact Professor Olli A. Jänne (Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.), Director of Biocenter Finland or members of the Board.
17-18, August, 2015 Lecture Hall 2, Biomedicum Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 8, Helsinki, Finland
This symposium entitled “6th Sino-Finn Life Science Forum: From System Biology to Translational Medicine” will mainly focus on the latest and exciting innovations in the area of molecular biology and medicine, functional genomics and computational biology, clinical investigation and translation based on big data. Since 2008, Sino-Finn Life Science Forum has been successfully held for 5 times. Through this platform, many respected scientists of life science from both Finland and China have presented their latest work, communicated with each other, and establishED various types of collaborations. As a follow-up event of Sino-Finn Life Science Forum, the upcoming symposium provides a good opportunity of communication for the eminent scientists and investigators in the field of system biology and translational medicine from both Finland and China. Moreover, this symposium will provide a bilateral platform for all participants and young researchers/students to network and perceive scientific interactions for the future development in the related field.
Turku BioImaging arranges Advanced Microscopy Workshop in Turku on August 11-12, 2015 with technology and application expertise from the world-leading imaging center Janelia Research Campus. The workshop is followed by the Bridging Nordic Imaging -seminar (August 13-14) which further expands on the themes of the workshop.
BRIDGING NORDIC IMAGING – ENABLING DISCOVERIES FROM ATOMS TO ANATOMY -network was established for efficient collaboration between Nordic countries and to jointly work towards a better research community and improved options for both biological and medical imaging.
Bridging Nordic Imaging -network arranges a seminar series to bring together researchers and students from Nordic countries for improving interdisciplinary research and to combining the biological and medical imaging technologies and expertise.
First seminar will take place on 13-14.8.15 in Turku.
At the same time with this event, two Finnish Bioimaging network meetings will take place. Finnish Bioimaging network will have its first meeting on the 12th of August and meeting for Finnish bioimaging core facility staff will be arranged (date will be confirmed later).
Joint meeting of BF board members, coordinators of infrastructure networks and chairs of technology platforms will be organised on January 12, 2015. Also Finnish national coordinators/contact points of BMS (Biological and Medical Sciences) ESFRI projects have been invited to this meeting where important issues about the future development of BF will be discussed.
The Biocenter Finland structural biology network will hold a 1 day meeting dedicated to Finnish structural biology research and technical advances 9th June 2015, in Helsinki. It will be held as a satellite meeting to the Paulo Foundation Symposium "From atomic structures to disease mechanisms" (10-12th June). The new NMR magnet will be inaugurated as part of the satellite meeting.
XXVI Paulo Foundation Symposium entitled "From Atomic Structures to Disease Mechanisms", 10-12th June, 2015, Helsinki, Finland
"Our rationale for this symposium is both scientific and clinical. Scientifically, understanding the molecular details of energy metabolism is fundamental to our understanding of life. Clinically, brain diseases affect a large number of people, and yet therapeutic approaches are limited. Recent advances in structural biology and biophysics, especially in receptors and their signalling, will now allow, in principle, development of conceptually novel drugs that could modify disease progression. It is thus critically important to bring people in these areas together to find ways and means to make these breakthroughs."
The Finnish structural biology annual meeting (FINNBOX) will be held as a satellite to this symposium. The meeting will take place on June 9 in seminar room 3401, Biocenter 3, Viikinkaari 1. The program will be based on the submitted abstracts.
Rectors of the BF host Universities have appointed Professor emeritus Olli Jänne as a part-time Director of Biocenter Finland for a period of 1.1.2015-31.12.2015.
More information: Director Eero Vuorio Tel. +358 50 415 6595 E-mail: eero.vuorio (at) helsinki.fi
Biocenter Finland has been selected for the updated national roadmap for research infrastructures with excellent reviews. The roadmap document was officially published on March 14, 2014.
In its first meeting of the year 2014, the Biocenter Finland Board elected Professor John Eriksson (BioCity Turku/Åbo Akademi University) as the Chairman, and Professor Johanna Myllyharju (Biocenter Oulu/University of Oulu) as the Vice-Chairman of the Board for years 2014-2015.
Biocenter Finland has been selected for the updated national roadmap for research infrastructures with excellent reviews. The roadmap document will be officially published on March 14, 2014.
BF Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) visited Helsinki on June 10-11, 2013 and evaluated the overall performance of BF in 2010-2012 and applications for support for bioscience technology platforms in 2014-2016. SAB will also make a statement on the BF Director candidates.
The first Biocenter Finland (BF) user survey was conducted in March 2013 in order to get information on the use and performance of BF technology platforms built up during the period of 2010–2012.
Biocenter Finland is searching for Director for the period of 1.1.2014-31.12.2016. The director will be formally employed by the coordinating university of Biocenter Finland, currently the University of Helsinki.
In 2013, Academy Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala (Biocenter Kuopio, University of Eastern Finland) will continue as the Chairman, and Professor Jyrki Heino (Biocity Turku, University of Turku) as the Vice-Chairman of the Biocenter Finland board.
The next board meetings are organized on March 15, 2013 and May 3, 2013.
The international evaluation of BF activities in 2010-2012 will take place in June 10-11, 2013. This will be combined with the evaluation of applications for support for bioscience technology platforms for 2014-2016. The call for BF technology platform support will be published on this website in February 2013.
Earmarked funding from the Ministry of Education and Culture (OKM) ends at the end of 2012, but BF activities will continue in 2013-2016 under direct funding from the six host universities. In 2013 this support will be directed primarily towards salaries of key personnel in the technology services.
In its meeting on November 15, 2011, the Board of Biocenter Finland made the last funding decisions on proposals for technology platforms and emerging technologies (2nd call for bioscience technology platform grants).
Biocenter Finland Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) is currently evaluating BF technology platforms. During Monday August 22 and Tuesday August 23 the SAB evaluates the current technology platforms and new proposals for technology platforms and emerging technologies.
The pdf-version of Biocenter Finland Annual Report 2010 is now available. For printed copies please contact Planning officer Sanna Leinonen (sanna.p.leinonen (at) helsinki.fi)
Biocenter Finland opens 2nd call in its international visitor program for doctoral and postdoctoral trainees. The call is open immediately, and the application deadline is September 30, 2011.
In its first meeting of the year 2011, the Biocenter Finland Board elected Academy Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala as the Chairman, and Professor Jyrki Heino as the Vice-Chairman of the Board for years 2011-2012.
In its meeting on 22nd September the Board of Biocenter Finland made funding decisions on "Provision of support to research career development in biocenters". Funding is granted for following applicants:
