Research at the Faculty of Medicine

The Faculty takes part in both the Flagship programmes of the University of Turku funded by the Academy of Finland. The InFLAMES Flagship (Innovation Ecosystem based on the Immune System) is a joint project of the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, in which the Faculty acts as a coordinating unit. The joint INVEST Flagship (Inequalities, Interventions and a New Welfare State) of the University of Turku and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare includes the Department of Child Psychiatry from the Faculty.

LIFE is part of the University of Turku thematic research profile Health, Diagnostics and Drug development. LIFE focuses on multigenerational health pathways for lifelong health. It has high scientific and public health importance and an innovative strategy to identify novel methods for early prediction, treatment and prevention of major non-communicable diseases (NCDs, e.g. obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, allergic diseases, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and disorders of reproductive health) that pose the highest public health burden globally. 

Researchers at the University of Turku have already shown that interventions in childhood, where foundations for a healthy life are set, have delayed onset or reduced NCD risk. This path will be pursued further and more deeply than ever before in LIFE, with the goal of significant impact on individual health outcomes and sustainability of the healthcare system.

The goal of LIFE is to understand and prevent the early steps of disease development during not only the foetal period and childhood, but even earlier in the parental germline through multigenerational study designs in both humans and animals. 

LIFE brings together several strategic profiles of the University of Turku, involving the Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Technology, as well as Turku Bioscience Centre and Turku PET Centre. LIFE supports the research in the University Flagships InFLAMES and INVEST. It also collaborates with Turku University Hospital. LIFE is funded by Academy of Finland.

There are many research centers and service units in Turku that are part of the Faculty of Medicine or in very close cooperation with it.

Auria Biobank and Auria Clinical Informatics
BioCity Turku
Functional Foods Forum
Central Animal Laboratory
Finnish Cancer Center West, FICAN West
MediCity Research Laboratory
Paavo Nurmi Centre
Centre for Education and Research on Social and Health Services
Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC)
TCBC Turku Clinical Biomaterials Centre
TCDM Center for Disease Modeling
Turku BioImaging
Turku Brain and Mind Center
Turku Centre for Biotechnology
Turku PET Centre

The Biomaterial and Medical Device Research Programme with its nine principal research groups and three associated groups provides a unique collaboration, education and learning environment for researchers in different fields of science in their efforts to develop reliable and safe implantable medical devices for healing and regeneration of injured and diseased tissue. The programme bridges generic and clinical research with clinical practice and also provides a discussion forum with companies fabricating implantable medical devices. The research groups develop together future biomaterials and medical devices with the focuses on clinical solutions for tissue injuries and defects, on-line sensing of tissue healing, controlled drug release, adequate mechanical durability, and pre-determined, desired resorption matched to neotissue growth rate. The research group consortium enables a totally new multidisciplinary approach in developing medical materials.

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The DTA research program consists of groups within University of Turku (UTU), Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU) and the Turku University Hospital. In order to translate the basic life science or medical findings into diagnostic biomarkers, assay formats and technology platforms applicable in highly variable and challenging real-life situations, competencies from several scientific areas such as chemistry, physics, biochemistry, biotechnology, clinical and laboratory medicine and engineering must be brought together. The research program specifically aims to promote and enhance this interdisciplinary collaboration, outlined also in the health sector growth strategy for research and innovation activities set by Finnish government and UTU and ÅAU in establishing the joint research profiling area on drug development and diagnostics.

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We aim to facilitate a whole of life approach and provide the opportunity to join lifespan-related researchers across University of Turku (UTU) and Åbo Akademi University (ÅA).  The goal is to understand processes leading to normal and abnormal growth and prevent and treat the lifespan of cardiovascular, inflammatory, endocrine & metabolic disorders. We will combine both basic and applied research in life sciences, medicine, ICT, chemistry and physics. The goal will be achieved through molecular characterization and system-level understanding of specific biological processes and diseases, as well as discovering and testing novel diagnostic tools and therapies. The approaches are multi-disciplinary and unite expertise in basic, clinical and public health research.

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The research programme is focused on how cells receive and process signals. The research projects have a long record of high quality basic research on receptors to cell adhesion molecules, hormones, cytokines, death ligands, and growth factors, as well as cellular receptors for microbes. There is also a strong emphasis on the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction and transcriptional regulation, structure/activity relationships of ligand-receptor interactions, regulation of receptor expression, and on molecular pharmacology. These basic research areas have broad ramifications in different fields of health and disease-related research, including inflammatory, cell stress-related, and degenerative diseases as well as cancer and metastasis. Therefore, many of the individual research groups have active projects aiming at both technology transfer and applying their results to different health-related problems.

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Translational infectious disease and immunity research programme is highly multidisciplinary and collaborative and it targets at all major areas of infectious diseases. The programme constitutes of three major work packages, which focus on microbes, their characteristics and development of novel diagnostic tools, host immune responses, their contribution to innate and adaptive immune responses and immune-mediated diseases and on clinical and experimental infectious disease research that has a strong translational approach. The programme includes 25 research groups with altogether ca. 130 senior scientists, postdoctoral research fellows and under and postgraduate students. The research programme is fully intertwined with the University of Turku priority areas of diagnostics, drug research and imaging, which are being developed and utilized in all work packages. In addition, the research groups within the programme have tight collaborations with the biotechnological industry in the Turku area and elsewhere in Finland and abroad. The research programme is likely to contribute to better knowledge in microbes and diseases caused by them, understanding of disease mechanisms in infectious and immune-mediated diseases and improvement of patient care and diagnostics of infectious diseases. The programme will also provide more rational patient care and economical savings for the health care sector and contribute to further development of local biotechnological industry.

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