The Structural Biology Finland Conference 2021 highlights the official opening of the Instruct-ERIC Centre Finland, show-casing the latest scientific highlights in integrated structural cell biology and demonstrating the use of key research infrastructure available in the Instruct-ERIC and FINStruct service catalogues. Participants can present posters, flash talks and give industrial exhibitions.
Instruct-ERIC Centre Finland and Structural Biology Finland (FINStruct) organize a Conference Instruct-ERIC Centre Finland Opening and Structural Biology Finland Conference 2021 on December 17, at 8.45-17:45 EET in Viikki Info Center. The event is organized as a hybrid meeting and can be joined remotely. Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the event will be organized in accordance with the guidelines and restrictions of University of Helsinki in effect at the time of the event.
Remote access: A link will be provided for participants who register for online event
Safety: Please comply with the University of Helsinki guidelines to prevent the spread of Sars-Cov2 Please attend on site only if you are completely healthy.
Biocenter and Helsinki Institute of Life Science HiLIFE organize a Symposium: Life Sciences Combatting Global Challenges - The European perspective. on November 26 at 10-12.
Keynote by Prof Ewan Birney: EMBL: Europe’s international life science laboratory - from viruses to ecosystems Director of EMBL-EBI & Deputy Director General of EMBL
Speakers: Aarno Palotie, Tiina Kupila-Rantala, Pauli Kallio, Katja Kivinen and Olli Silvennoinen
See details below.
Welcome to the Symposium!
Life Sciences are central to understanding the most pressing global challenges from climate change and loss of biodiversity to pandemics and other severe health care challenges. The ongoing rapid technological and digital developments are providing tools to address these challenges in completely new ways with direct applications in environment, agriculture, health care, innovations and industry. The technology-driven revolution in Life Sciences underline the importance of modern infrastructure services.
Biocenter Finland and Helsinki Institute of Life Science HiLIFE organize a Symposium Life Sciences Combatting Global Challenges - The European perspective on November 26, at 10 AM-12 PM in Viikki Infocenter. The Symposium is organized as a hybrid meeting and can be joined remotely.
Professor Ewan Birney, Director of EMBL-EBI and Deputy Director General of EMBL gives the Keynote Lecture on the EMBL research and infrastructure organization. The Keynote covers the new EMBL Scientific Programme and European response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Symposium includes presentations from prominent Finnish Life Science researchers and experts and a panel discussion on Life Science research and infrastructures in the European context.
Time: November 26, at 10 AM-12 PM
Venue: Viikki Infocenter, Oppimistori;
Viikinkaari 11, Helsinki
Arrival: See map included with the programme. Limited parking lots available due to Raide Jokeri construction work in Viikinkaari. Few general parking lots at campus and more at nearby Prisma shopping center
The Nordic EMBL Partnership warmly invites you to participate in the tenth Building Bridges symposium providing an exciting collaborative look into advanced research technologies. The Building Bridge series is aimed to highlight collaborative efforts towards, ultimately, a better understanding of the pathophysiology of disease and improved options for patient treatment and care.
Building Bridges 2021: Technologies advancing molecular medicine – focus on Nordic infrastructures
The Building Bridges symposia series is arranged to bridge basic, translational and clinical research and provide examples of how teams of investigators are working together to advance molecular medicine. With the 10th Building Bridges symposium we shine the spotlight on technologies used to improve our understanding of health and disease. In particular, we will demonstrate research advances using infrastructure available in the Nordic region, bridging research and technology development as well as bridging researchers across borders. With an opening and closing keynote from EMBL Heidelberg and EMBL Hamburg, we highlight research infrastructure at EMBL, as well.
Organizers: The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, a Nordforsk-funded Research Infrastructure Hub. The Nordic EMBL Partnership consists of four international research and technology centers:
Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience (DANDRITE)
Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM)
The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS)
Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway (NCMM)
Venue: Hybrid On-site: University of Helsinki, Meilahti Campus, Biomedicum 1, Lecture Hall 2 Online via Zoom: link and passcode provided in registration confirmation Webpage: https://bit.ly/3jkG5vl Date and time: Wednesday, 1 December 2021 at 9:00-16:00 CET/10.00-17.00 EET
Program:
9.00
Welcome from the organizers & setting the stage
Katja Kivinen, FIMM
Session I: High resolution technologies in molecular medicine
Chairs: Pirkko Mattila, FIMM
9.10
Opening Keynote: From genotype to phenotype with single-cell resolution Oliver Stegle (DKFZ & EMBL Heidelberg)
9.45
Single cell analysis for precision cancer medicine Caroline Heckman (FIMM)
10.10
Discovery of novel anti-chlamydial compounds through a multi-strategy screening approach Barbara Sixt (MIMS)
10.35
Break, coffee & tea
11.00
Aarhus CryoEM - on the path to in situ structural biology Thomas Boesen (DANDRITE)
11.25
Inherited causes of somatic mutagenesis and evolution in cancer Sebastian Martin Waszak (NCMM)
11.50
Short pitches for research visits
CryoEM structures of centromeric complexes – collaboration between NCMM and cryoEM facility in Umeå (MIMS) Ahmad Ali-Ahmad (NCMM)
Defining dietary effects on mouse gut microbiota metabolites with metabolomics Björn Schröder (MIMS) & Anni Nieminen (FIMM)
Patient-derived slice-model as a low throughput screening method Nanna Møller Jensen (DANDRITE)
Collaborations with Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden (CBCS): The Swedish national platform for small molecule screening Anna Eriksson (CBCS)
Phenotypic screening of patient -derived primary cells (FIMM-NCMM collaboration) Antti Hassinen (FIMM)
12.20
Lunch (light lunch provided for those attending on-site)
Session II: Models, characterizations and structures
Chair: Thomas Boesen (DANDRITE)
13.15
Diagnostic modelling in the context of cancer heterogeneity Emmy Verschuren (FIMM) & Sarang Talwelkar (FIMM)
13.40
Unbiased characterization of cells using single-cell analysis Johan Henriksson (MIMS)
14.05
The zebrafish as a model organism to understand and treat complex genetic disorders Camilla Esguerra (NCMM)
14.30
Break, coffee & tea
15.00
Lipid flippase CryoEM structure case: structure-based drug development and translational collaboration with hospitals/medical doctors Thibaud Dieudonne (DANDRITE)
15.25
Closing keynote: EMBL Imaging Centre: the technology development we need for the imaging challenges we face Simone Mattei (EMBL Hamburg)
16.00
Closing words Organizing committee led by Katja Kivinen
ECTS credits: 1,0 ECTS - University of Helsinki doctoral candidates who would like to earn 1,0 ECTS are required to attend the symposium and complete advance readings and follow-up quiz questions provided for each talk. Further information about the advance readings and quiz will be posted on the course webpage as soon as available.
Registration: University of Helsinki doctoral candidates must register in SISU, course code DPBM-194 All others, please register using the e-form: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/53957/lomake.html Registration deadline: 21 November
Organizing Team: Heidi Arling, FIMM, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. Thomas Boesen, DANDRITE, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. Katja Kivinen, FIMM, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. Pirkko Mattila, FIMM, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. Vilja Pietiäinen, FIMM, vilja.pietiäTämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. Gretchen Repasky, Nordic EMBL Partnership/FIMM, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. Nikolina Sekulic, NCMM, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. Barbara Sixt, MIMS, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.
Preclinical studies using animal models are an integral part of biomedical research. However, their value is dependent on their scientific validity and reproducibility , which are, in turn, dependent on rigorous study design and reporting. This symposium aims to update on the guidelines developed and recommended for achieving robust research output
BioCity Turku arranges every semester Frontiers of Science seminar series where researchers are welcome to invite prominent international scientists to give a talk to local scientific community. The seminars are for all researchers and students and students can get ECTs from participation.
This autumn the seminar series is arranged together with InFLAMES Flagship and three of the invited speakers, Teng-Leong Chew, Janne Lehtiö and Petter Brodin, are InFLAMES visiting professors. Although all the speakers are specialists, the lectures are usually given on moderately general level for their intelligibility.
Registration is obligatory and links to register are in BioCity Turku website (https://biocityturku.fi/autumn-2021-programme/) and advertised in our news feed. Registration closes and zoom link is sent to participants one day before the event.
HiLIFE, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, is one of the leading life science research institutes in the Nordics. It builds on existing strengths and new recruits and partnerships to create an attractive international environment where today’s grand challenges in health and environment are solved together. HiLIFE supports outstanding research and generation of innovations across the University’s campuses within partner faculties and its own units, the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, the Institute of Biotechnology and Neuroscience Center. HiLIFE also coordinates research infrastructures in life sciences and provides research-based interdisciplinary training. HiLIFE has a staff of more than 650 diverse scientists and support personnel. The budget exceeds 60 M€ of which about 65% is external competed research funding. The University of Helsinki is an international scientific community of 40,000 students and researchers with a critical outlook and a creative attitude. It is one of the leading multidisciplinary research universities in Europe and ranks among the top 100 international universities in the world. Through the power of science, we contribute to a meaningful life, human wellbeing and healthy environment!
This is a part-time position (maximum 50% full time equivalent) based at the University of Turku, Finland. The position is for five years, beginning 01.01.2022.
BioCity Turku is a joint biocentre which links the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University to support and coordinate life science and molecular medicine related research in the Turku region. The BioCity Turku community currently comprises more than 140 research groups and over one thousand researchers.
The key responsibilities of the Scientific Director of BioCity Turku are: to promote life science research and education; support development of the research environment and infrastructure; and to coordinate collaboration between researchers in bioscience and medical research. The Scientific Director acts as the chairperson of the common Executive Board of the Turku Bioscience Centre and BioCity Turku, and, in working with the Board, contributes to the strategy and development of Biocenter Finland through participating in appropriate decision making processes.
The successful applicant will have demonstrated high-level academic competence in the life science and/or molecular medicine research fields and is expected to continue their own relevant academic research. The role requires a deep understanding of the life science research field, particularly in respect to current, leading edge research and innovation. Excellent interpersonal skills, effective strategic planning and implementation skills, and high-quality written and verbal communication skills (in English) are considered essential to this role.
The position is one of teaching and research personnel. The salary is determined based on the collective agreement of the Finnish universities and will be based on Professors’ demand levels 8-10. The exact salary is specified when finalising the employment contract, and the salary level is determined based on the competence and knowledge of the successful applicant and the full time equivalent load (30-50% FTE). There is a trial period of six months.
For further information, please don’t hesitate to contact Vice Rector Kalle-Antti Suominen, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.. In case you need help with the application process, please turn to our HR Specialist Paula Luoma, Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.
Along with your application, kindly enclose your CV, an academic portfolio, your list of publications and a motivation letter describing how you would develop BioCity Turku in future.
Please submit your application using the online application system by 16.06.2021, at the latest. The link to the online application system can be found here: https://www.utu.fi/en/university/come-work-with-us
BioCity Turku represents one of the most successful scientific fields in Finland and provides an exciting opportunity to contribute to the development of life sciences in Turku and beyond. We warmly welcome you to join our multicultural community!
The annual BioCity Symposium is in August 19th–20th with the title Cancer – Breaking Bad. This series of meetings organized since 1991 has become the most important annual get-together in the fields of biosciences and molecular medicine in Turku. The symposium gathers together hundreds of participants each year and offers talks from cutting-edge international researchers.
BioCity Turku is a community of life science and molecular medicine researchers and students in Turku region. One of its main events is the yearly BioCity Symposium which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. This year the event is organized in collaboration with Finnish Cancer Institute and the aim is to arrange a hybrid event with some of the audience and invited speakers present in Turku as well as having virtual participants following the broadcasted program. However if necessary BioCity Symposium can be flipped into fully virtual event even at short notice.
This year’s program consist of nine talks from international scientists spiced up with short talks from Finnish researchers. One of the speakers is Stephen J. Elledge from Harvard Medical School who will talk about approaches to immunotherapy for tumors. Other symposium speakers include Leila Akkari from Netherland Cancer Institute researching macrophages in cancer, and Robert A. Gatenby from Moffitt Cancer Center investigating evolutionary dynamics in cancer and cancer drug resistance. Something new this year is a panel discussion with three editors representing different journals from American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Panel discussion will include short presentations from the journals (Cancer Discovery, Clinical Cancer Research and Cancer Research) and tips and discussion on submitting manuscripts and publishing articles.
Send an abstract and present your work to Symposium audience
Participants of the BioCity Symposium represent different research areas such as molecular biology, cell biology, biomedicine and clinical research from both universities and companies. A significant proportion of attendants are PhD students and post-docs. Researchers are encouraged to participate to the poster exhibition and submit a poster abstract latest 11.6.2021. Based on the submitted abstracts at least six researchers are invited to give a short talk in the symposium. If the poster sessions need to be cancelled the researchers who have sent abstracts will be informed at the beginning of August. Last day to register to the symposium is 6.8.2021 and the event is free of charge.
The BioCity Symposium is organized by BioCity Turku (https://biocityturku.fi/), an organization coordinating the research in the fields of biosciences and molecular sciences in Turku region. BioCity Turku has over one hundred research groups with more than thousand scientists and students from University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University.
Please note that the program outline for the event might change until the very last moment. Up-to-date information is available in BioCity Turku website: https://biocityturku.fi/
Also, don’t hesistate to contact us at Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.
Olli Silvennoinen will start his appointment on May 1. From 2019, he has worked as director of HiLIFE, Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences at the University of Helsinki.
The rectors of Biocenter Finland partner Universities have nominated professor Olli Silvennoinen as new director of Biocenter Finland.
Silvennoinen has worked as director of HiLIFE, Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences at the University of Helsinki from April 2019. Before that, Silvennoinen served as director of the Institute of Biotechnology, which operates as part of HiLIFE.
Prior HiLIFE Silvennoinen has worked as professor and director of the Institute of Medical Technology at the University of Tampere. He also spent several years of his career in the United States. Silvennoinen graduated with a doctoral degree from the University of Helsinki in 1988.
“From the seven applicants prof. Olli Silvennoinen had clearly the best qualifications, experience and vision for the future development of Biocenter Finland. The board of Biocenter Finland is very pleased that we could get such a high profile director to lead the nation-wide infrastructure for the next five years,” says professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala, chair of the board of Biocenter Finland.
Olli Silvennoinen has a long history with national infrastructures
Olli Silvennoinen has experienced Biocenter Finland from different angles and positions, as member and chair of board, chair of a platform, active customer of the platforms and in administration of smaller and larger biocenter. In addition, he was one of the signees of the Biocenter Finland founding document.
“I am honored and excited to take the helm of Biocenter Finland. I could almost say that I am coming home as my history with national infrastructures dates back two decades. The relevance of Biocenter Finland coordination activities are today extremely important with demands on rapidly developing technologies, skilled personnel, resources, and obviously the relevance of cutting-edge infrastructures for research and its implementation for the benefit of the society as we have seen in very concreate terms with the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, there is much for us to do and I am looking very much forward to work together with Biocenter Finland community in these activities,” says Silvennoinen.
Olli Silvennoinen will start his appointment on May 1.
Biocenter Finland BF is a distributed nation-wide RI supporting frontier research, innovation and industry-academia collaboration in Life Sciences, openly accessible for 17,000 researchers in universities, research institutes, biobanks, hospitals and industry. BF coordinates investments into and operations of nationally important RIs and promotes collaboration, division of responsibilities and joint investments according to a long-term plan anchored to the strategies of its host universities University of Eastern Finland, University of Helsinki, Oulu University, Tampere University, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University.
More information:
Seppo Ylä-Herttuala, professor, chair of the board of Biocenter Finland Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. 040 355 2075
Olli Silvennoinen, professor, director of Biocenter Finland (1 May 2021–) Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. 050 359 5740
Biocomplex (Structural Biology platform) offers a new instrument, a new generation asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) instrument NEON Eclipse (Wyatt), that is coupled to five online detectors, for use in your research projects on large macromolecular complexes.
With this first new-generation Wyatt FFF-MALS installed in Europe, we invite all to have a look on the Biocomplex website for further information and to contact Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen. for enquiries on this wonderful separation system!
Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) is a versatile and gentle size-based separation method that is well suited for biological macromolecules and their complexes, membrane vesicles, and nanoparticles (viruses, virus-like particles etc.). It separates sample components according to size in an open channel. This leads to large separation range, from 1 to 1000 nm in radius, and gentle separation.
With the support of the Academy of Finland and the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Biocomplex unit has acquired a new generation asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) instrument NEON Eclipse (Wyatt) that is coupled to five online detectors: DAWN multi-angle light scattering detector (MALS) with 18 angles; QELS dynamic light scattering (DLS) detector; fluorescence detector; UV and Optilab® differential refractive index (dRI) detectors.
The setup can be used in analytical and semi-preparative purification mode. The accompanied software (ASTRA) allows characterization of various biophysical properties of sample components: size (radius of gyration/root mean square radius and hydrodynamic radius), shape, molar mass, particle concentration, composition of conjugates, aggregation, molecular interactions. Thus, valuable information can be collected for the study of biomolecules. Fraction collection enables off-line analysis.
See also information on our other separation technologies: preparative ultracentrifugation and monolithic chromatography for large biocomplexes (Biocomplex websites)
You can apply for fully funded access to all Biocomplex services through Instruct-ERIC (Proposal guidelines).
Biocomplex is part of the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences and HiLIFE at the University of Helsinki. Biocomplex is also part of a national research infrastructure network FINStruct that is the Structural Biology Platform of Biocenter Finland, and Instruct-ERIC that is a pan-European distributed research infrastructure in structural biology.
Inquiries:Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.
THE AIM of this workshop is to give participants theoretical knowledge and practical insights on factors that contribute to poor research reproducibility and replicability, and how to improve the trustworthiness and quality of research. The event is intended for researchers/students in the field of life sciences.
DATE and TIME: April 21, 10:00-13:00 (Helsinki time)
PLACE: Online (link will be sent to registered e-mail).
The participation is free of charge; however, registration is necessary (certificates of participation will be send to the registered e-mail address upon request).
PROGRAM:
10:00-10:40 Malcolm Macleod (University of Edinburgh):Why changes in research practice are needed NOW and one cannot wait until tomorrow? Discussion: What prevents the participants from changing?
10:40-11:20 Thomas Steckler (Janssen Pharmaceutica NV):The need to recognize “research conducted with sufficient rigor” Discussion: What prevents the participants from applying blinding, randomization, etc?
11:20-11:30 Break
11:30-12:10 Sami Virtanen (Orion Pharma):Rigor in data management. Discussion: Can I trace raw data from a publication?
12:10-12:50 Anton Bespalov & Valentina Vengeliene (PAASP GmbH): Rigor in collaborative research. Discussion: Do workshop participants have experience with collaborative research?
12:50-13:00 Vootele Voikar (Neuroscience Center, HiLIFE), Andreas Scherer (Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, HiLIFE):Do we need a Reproducibility Network in Finland?
BioCity Turku will continue Frontiers of Science seminar series online as eTALKs. Registration is obligatory and links to register are in BioCity Turku website (https://biocityturku.fi/) and advertised in our news feed. Registration closes and zoom link is sent to participants one day before the event.
Please note that any audio or video recording of the seminars is strictly forbidden.
If you wish to follow BioCity Turku news feed and receive up to date information about the Frontiers of Science seminars and other events, please contact Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.
March 11th online at 18:00 Dr. Vishva M. Dixit, Genentech Inc., US Why so many ways to die? host: Annika Meinander (Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.) Registration latest March 10th at 12:00 https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/D0190FEC11DAFBE1
March 25th online at 15:00 Prof. Thomas Look, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, US Allosteric activators of protein phosphatase 2A display broad antitumor activity host: Jukka Westermarck (Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.) Registration latest March 24th at 12:00 https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/1E693F703013AB7C
April 8th online at 12:00 Prof. Didier Picard, University of Geneva, Switzerland The molecular chaperone Hsp90: probing its functions with drugs and gene deletions host: Outi Salo-Ahen (Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.) Registration latest April 7th at 12:00 https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/D7C1FD56DD28A4A9
April 22nd online at 12:00 Academician of Science Markku Kulmala, University of Helsinki, Finland Climate, air quality and COVID host: Eva-Mari Aro (Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.) Registration latest at April 21st at 12:00 https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/C7B8A7E3598DD0EE
April 29th online at 18:00 Dr. Aviv Regev, Genentech Inc., US Cell Atlases as roadmaps to treat disease host: Riitta Lahesmaa (Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.) Registration latest at April 28th at 12:00 https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/757F3676A3638A22
May 6th online at 12:00 Prof. Xavier Trepat, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain Mechanobiology of intestinal organoids host: Diana Toivola (Tämä sähköpostiosoite on suojattu spamboteilta. Tarvitset JavaScript-tuen nähdäksesi sen.) Registration latest at May 5th at 12:00 https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/4A840109CAA578BA
INVITATION TO ATTEND THE CYCLE OF WEBINARS ABOUT PRECARITY IN ACADEMIA
The ISE Researchers' Careers Task Force has been conducting a long reflection on the organisation of academic research in Europe, with a focus on the systemic structural changes that will be necessary for Europe to remain an attractive place to do science, and a competitive economic and scientific powerhouse. To facilitate a constructive discussion around these topics, ISE will be running a series of three webinars specifically designed for policy makers, funders, universities, international organisations, and journalists. More information about each webinar can be found at the registration links below.
European funding: finding solutions to systematic challengesModerator: Chloe Hill (EGU). Panelists: Maria da Graça Carvalho (MEP), Mariya Ivancheva (EASA), Wim van Saarloos (Leiden University), Rachel Coulthard-Graf (EMBL). 18 February 2021, 2pm - 3:30pm CET REGISTER HERE
Research assessment practices Moderator: Mathew Tata (Eurodoc). Panelists: Sarika Wilson (The Guild), Stephen Curry (DORA), Cecilia Cabello Valdés (ERAC). 4 March 2021, 2pm - 3:30pm CET REGISTER HERE
Research grant evaluation Moderator: Renaud Jolivet (MCAA). Panelists: Frédéric Sgard (OECD), Catherine McCammon (ERC panel member), James Morris (Science Europe), Kasper Gossink (Dutch Funding Agency - NWO). 18 March 2021, 2pm - 3:30pm CET REGISTER HERE
ABOUT ISE: The Initiative for Science in Europe (https://initiative-se.eu) is an independent platform of 16 European Learned Societies and Research Organizations operating within different disciplines and across sectors. ISE supports all fields of research at a European level, involves researchers in the design and implementation of European science policies, and advocates strong independent scientific advice in European policy making.
EMBL provides access to the very latest in life science technologies, infrastructure, and data resources, enabling researchers to obtain the highest quality results, often in a tailored way. A Mission in their own right, EMBL's scientific services are tightly linked to EMBL’s other Missions – research, training, technology development and transfer, as well as coordination and integration of European life sciences. These services are part of the fabric of European life sciences – constantly evolving to be at the leading edge – for the benefit of all of our member states.
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.
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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.
One of the sequencing instruments is hosted by the
