Research

Strength areas

Fight­ing can­cer

We aim for comprehensive solutions to fight cancer. Recent scientific breakthroughs in cancer biology, genomics, and medical oncology are...

Healthy aging

Our extending lifespans, low physical activity and unhealthy diet make age-related diseases one of the today’s biggest health care...

Un­der­stand­ing the brain

The brain integrates nature and nurture. Our goal is to understand the functioning of the brain from molecules to mind, development to...

Growth from Plants

Bioeconomy is a national focus area in Finland. Plants provide us with oxygen, food, fibre, renewable energy, even medical compounds. Our...

Thriv­ing spe­cies

We aim to identify and understand interactions shaping the diversity of life and the survival of species. Understanding both the molecular...

Food chain and mi­cro­bi­ome

From soil to gut, microbes are vital throughout the food chain. We combine a strong tradition in microbiology and food safety research...

Grand Challenges

The HiLIFE Grand Challenge projects unite life science researchers at the University of Helsinki and partner organizations in new ways to provide solutions to major global challenges. Based on evaluation by the HiLIFE Scientific Council, eight Grand Challenges were selected for 2018-2021.

Viikki Plant Science Center (ViPS): Value net­works from plant ge­n­om­ics of crops, nat­ive plants and forest trees

This Grand Challenge consortium focuses on performing high-impact fundamental research on plants, primary production and management of crop...

In­tel­li­gent ther­apies for can­cer and uter­ine leiomyoma (IT-CAN)

Current ways to monitor tumor progression and predict drug efficacy are limited to reductionist cell culture and mouse tumor models that do...

Ge­n­om­ics and di­gital dia­gnostics for pre­ci­sion medi­cine (GD-PMed)

Genomes and detailed recordings of the environment and life style provide a basis for improved disease prevention and treatment strategies...

Un­der­stand­ing bio­lo­gical re­si­li­ence (BIORESILIENCE)

Understanding why and how some species are able to cope or even thrive in the face of rapid environmental change (biological resilience)...

Cli­mate smart north­ern ag­ri­cul­ture (Climsage)

In conjunction with the Paris climate conference in December 2015, the French government proposed to increase the soil carbon stock on...

Com­bat­ting an­ti­mi­cro­bial drug res­ist­ance (AMR)

The rapid rise in antibiotic-resistant pathogens is one of the grand challenges in life sciences. This project aims to harness cutting-edge...

Un­der­stand­ing the brain (HNBM)

Understanding the brain is the most exciting quest of the humankind. To meet this challenge, multidisciplinary group of neuroscientists at...

Nu­tri­ent Con­trol of Health and Dis­ease (HiMET)

Food choices and defined diets have become an important social theme. Furthermore, change in food amount and quality over the past 50 years...