On 2–3 May 2023, the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, a network of national molecular medicine research centres, celebrated the signing of a renewed ten-year agreement between the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the Universities of Helsinki, Aarhus, Oslo, and Umeå. The celebration took place at the University of Helsinki in a two-day event.
The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine is a unique network of national research centres with complementary research expertise at the forefront of molecular medicine research. The Finnish node of the Nordic EMBL Partnership is the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM).
The significance of the partnership for biomedical research cannot be overstated. The four Nordic nodes have strong expertise in molecular medicine and bring many strengths that uniquely complement the EMBL research programme. FIMM Director from 2018 to 2023, Mark Daly, says that the EMBL partnership provides immense value to Finland at many levels.
“The partnership enables us at FIMM to bring a diverse institutional model with centralized scientific excellence in molecular medicine and research infrastructures that enrich the entire Helsinki and Finnish research landscapes”, Daly says.
“The strong emphasis on international recruitment and investment in young, ‘EMBL-style’ group leaders bring great strength and complementarity to the Finnish research ecosystem – and the joint activity with our Nordic partners facilitates the impact and reach of Nordic science throughout Europe and the world”, he continues.
In her address, Rector Sari Lindblom reminded that today’s health and environmental challenges are complex and require a multitude of approaches to find creative solutions.
“It is through partnerships with shared missions that we can succeed in implementing what we as an academic community want to do for the benefit of society. EMBL offers fertile ground for many joint interactions and collaboration in scientific research, services, modern technologies, and training. The Nordic EMBL Partnership offers not only a window to collaborate in top-level molecular biology, but also an opportunity to learn from each other’s operations and share good practices, Lindblom stated.