The goal of the HILIFE Grand Challenge Program is to solve global life science problems in collaborative platforms. The total of 23 proposals from all the life science units of the University of Helsinki, and 9 international and national partner organizations were received by the end of the Call for Letters.
At the end of May, the HiLIFE Scientific Council interviewed each of the proposed project’s chairs for evaluation at Biomedicum on Meilahti Campus.
The HiLIFE Scientific Council members visiting University of Helsinki were: Professor Ole Petter Ottersen, President of Karolinska Institutet; Senior Scientist Anne-Claude Gavin, Structural and Computational Biology, EMBL; Scientific Director Josef Penninger, IMBA; Professor Mary Power, Department of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley & Angelo Coast Range Reserve; Professor Alan L. Schwartz, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University at St. Louis; President Kristiina Vuori, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, and Invited Expert Members: Professor Anders Björklund, Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, Lund University; Professor Marja Jäättelä, Institute of Cancer Biology, Danish Cancer Society & University of Copenhagen, and Director Emeritus Kai Simons, Max Planck Institute Cell Biology and Genetics.
Based on their evaluations, the final decision on the 6 to 8 funded projects will be made by the HiLIFE Board. The total anticipated funding for the three-year program is 6 M€.
The members of the Scientific Council also met with the Rector elect of the University of Helsinki, Jari Niemelä, and participated in round table discussions with the HiLIFE Fellows and Tenure Track Professors and the leaders of the HILIFE Units; Mark Daly from Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, Olli Silvennoinen from the Institute for Biotechnology, and Jari Koistinaho from Neuroscience Centre.