Teaching – How Researchers Train Future Generations. Dr. Sinja Taavitsainen, a bioinformatics researcher and University Instructor, integrates her research on cancer into her teaching at Tampere University. She emphasizes the importance of hands-on e…

An integral part of scientific research is training the next generation of researchers. In our latest blog post, Dr. Sinja Taavitsainen chats with us about her experiences in her complementary roles as teacher and researcher.
tumorgenetics.blog/2025/10/06/t...

The 2nd #HiLIFE #Sciencedays have officially begun!

Thank you, org. committee coordinators Tania Vane-Tempest & Tristen Hewitt for running us through the amazing program!

We also heard LS area greetings from HiLIFE Director Jari Koistinaho. Good to continue the day from here!

Podcast cover image for The Genetics Podcast Episode 204. The background is orange with faint letters A, C, T, G. On the right is a portrait of Samuli Ripatti wearing glasses and a suit. The title text reads: 'Bringing cardiovascular genetics and biobank discoveries into the clinic.' Below: 'With Samuli Ripatti of the University of Helsinki.' A label in the bottom right corner shows 'Ep 204'.

FinnGen is in the spotlight!
In EP 204 of #TheGeneticsPodcast, Prof. @sripatti.bsky.social, director of @fimm-uh.bsky.social, discusses how FinnGen’s data are helping translate genetics into real-world clinical tools, such as polygenic risk scores & treatment prediction.
🎙️ pod.fo/e/328c49

Calling all cancer researchers!

Join us, @ohsuknight.bsky.social and @stanford.edu at this year's Early Detection of Cancer Conference for the cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary science that is shaping the future of cancer early detection.

Check out the agenda and register: cruk.ink/3UR67Zu

Doctoral researcher in generative AI for population health Doctoral researcher in generative AI for population health

I am hiring! 🎓

We offer a fully funded PhD student position to work on exciting machine learning projects utilizing rich, multimodal real-life health data, based at @fimm-uh.bsky.social in Helsinki, Finland, the happiest country in the world 🇫🇮

jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

Feel free to DM me!

Kirjastonhoitaja ja Maalivahti: Retrotransposonit pelaavat omilla säännöillään Päivi Nummi on väitöskirjatutkija Suomen kasvaingenomiikan huippuyksikössä. Hänen tutkimuksensa keskittyy retrotransposoneihin paksu- ja peräsuolen alueen syövissä.

Reissumies retrotransposonit voivat häiritä solun säätelymekanismeja ja edistää syöpiä. Lisää näistä rauhattomista säätelymekanismeja rikkovista retkeilijöistä voit lukea Päivi Nummen kirjottamasta blogikirjoituksesta. @aaltonenlab.bsky.social tumorgenetics.blog/2025/08/26/k...

The Librarian, The Goalie and the Genome: Retrotransposons play by their own rules. Päivi Nummi is a doctoral researcher in the Finnish Center of Excellence in Tumor Genetics Research. Her work focuses on retrotransposons in colorectal cancer. In this blog, she shares how these ge…

Retrotransposons can act as rogue agents, interfering with cell regulation and possibly contributing to cancer initiation and progression. Read more about retrotransposons and cellular dysregulation in our new blog post by Päivi Nummi @aaltonenlab.bsky.social: tumorgenetics.blog/2025/08/26/t...

Recruitment banner for a Data Scientist position for the FinnGen project. Left: Large FinnGen logo. Right: Black text reads ‘DATA SCIENTIST for the FinnGen project.’ Below are the logos of FIMM and University of Helsinki. Bold black text at the bottom reads ‘APPLY BY 14 SEP.

We are looking for a Data Scientist to support our clinically oriented research teams in generating insights from decades of rich, longitudinal health data. If you are inspired by the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research at a global scale, apply here:
jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

University of Helsinki career ad with a blue chromosome and text: ‘Career Opportunity! Assistant Professor / Associate Professor or Professor of Human Genetics and Genomics. Apply by 10 Oct

The Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences of @helsinki.fi invites applications for the position of

🟢 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR / ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR / PROFESSOR OF HUMAN GENETICS AND GENOMICS 🟢

with a possibility of a secondary affiliation with FIMM.

➡️ jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

Final call: Applications close September 2! KI is recruiting 20 Assistant Professors in a wide range of subject areas. We're looking for early-career researchers with strong scientific merits and future potential. All positions: ki.se/en/about-ki/...

Valuable discussions at the China-Germany-Finland Life Sciences Forum 2025 at Tampere University.
Our PI Kirsi Rautajoki shared our latest findings on how hypoxia shapes the brain tumor immune environment, representing the Cancer Regulation and Immunology group.

Genes reveal why some older people suffer from frailty A new study has identified genetic variants linked to brain function, immune defence and metabolism that contribute to the development of frailty in older people. The study, published in Nature Aging ...

A new FinnGen-based study by researchers from Tampere University & @ki.se has identified genetic variants linked to brain function, immune defence and metabolism that contribute to the development of frailty in older people.
#genomics #research
news.ki.se/genes-reveal...

Portrait of Simone Rubinacci, PhD, smiling with hands folded on a table, in a black shirt against a blue background. To the right is a quote: "Honestly, FIMM has exceeded my expectations. There’s a genuine openness to new ideas and directions, which has been energising as I build a research program from scratch. Access to rich population-level data has also been a major asset." Below the quote: Simone Rubinacci, PhD FIMM-EMBL Group Leader since 2024 University of Helsinki and FIMM logos appear at the top right.

🚨 2 weeks left!
FIMM @helsinki.fi is hiring new early-career Group Leaders in molecular medicine.
🔬 Population-level genomics + health data
🌍 EMBL partnership
🌳 Nordic life, global science

Run your own lab. Build something bold.

👉 Apply by 10 Aug 2025: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

Suomalaistutkijoiden löytö voi paljastaa, miksi rintasyöpä ei aina reagoi immunoterapiaan | Helsingin yliopisto Suomalaislöytö avaa tien yksilöllisempään syövänhoitoon. Tutkimusmalli kiinnostaa maailmalla.

Immunoterapia on yksi merkittävimmistä edistysaskelista syövän hoidossa, mutta se ei tehoa kaikkiin potilaisiin. Tutkijamme ovat selvittäneet mekanismin, joka voi selittää miksi osa rintasyöpäpotilaista ei hyödy hoidosta odotetusti.
www.helsinki.fi/fi/uutiset/t...

Unlocking Cancer’s Weakness: Targeting Transcriptional CDKs with Small Molecule Inhibitors The research by Zhijia Wang focuses on identifying small-molecule inhibitors targeting transcriptional CDKs (CDK7, 9, 12) in cancer cells to halt uncontrolled growth. By screening various compounds…

Once a cancer cell starts accelerating its growth, how can we stop it? During their Ph.D. work, Zhijia Wang (Taipale Group) investigated how small molecule inhibitors might act as brakes in this process.
Read more about their work here: tumorgenetics.blog/2025/05/23/u...

DNA-guided transcription factor interactions extend human gene regulatory code - Nature A large-scale analysis of DNA-bound transcription factors (TFs) shows how the presence of DNA markedly affects the landscape of TF interactions, and identifies composite motifs that are recognized by ...

Transcription factors don't just interact with DNA but also with each other, enhancing the complexity of gene regulation. A new publication from Xie et al. in collaboration with the Taipale group explores the extent of these TF-TF interactions.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our newest paper by Joonas Uusi-Mäkelä et al. about the lncRNAs and their relations on growth and prognosis in diffuse gliomas is out now in Scientific Reports. Study was done in collaboration with NykterLab. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A study published in @cp-devcell.bsky.social points to new treatment strategies for the #childhoodcancer #neuroblastoma. Researchers have identified key transcription factor ‘switches’ that can be targeted to lock the cancer into a less aggressive state. #CancerResearch 🧪 doi.org/10.1016/j.de...

Chromatin state origins of uterine leiomyoma - Nature Communications The chromatin state origins of uterine leiomyoma (UL) remain to be explored. Here, the authors integrate data from genome-wide association studies and deep regulatory genomics data from myometrium and...

Congratulations to Maritta Räisänen et al. @aaltonenlab.bsky.social on their work in uterine leiomyomas! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

PhD student, Vilja Jokinen from the Tumor Genomics Research group standing next to her poster at this years American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in Chicago, Illinois! @coeintg.bsky.social #cancerresearch

The first fruit of our nice collaboration with Susanna Narkilahti's Neurogroup came out in The FASEB journal today, describing a 3D neuron-glioma model and its intercellular interactions. Great work Nanna, Lotta, and others! 👏🙂 dx.doi.org/10.1096/fj.2...

DNA-guided transcription factor interactions extend human gene regulatory code - Nature A large-scale analysis of DNA-bound transcription factors (TFs) shows how the presence of DNA markedly affects the landscape of TF interactions, and identifies composite motifs that are recognized by ...

Exciting new work from Zhiyuan Xie et al. in the Taipale Group exploring the intricacies of transcription factor interactions in gene regulation.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Structural features of somatic and germline retrotransposition events in humans - Mobile DNA Background Transposons are DNA sequences able to move or copy themselves to other genomic locations leading to insertional mutagenesis. Although transposon-derived sequences account for half of the hu...

New paper published! Structural features of somatic and germline retrotransposition events in humans. Congrats Päivi et al!👏 @coeintg.bsky.social
mobilednajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Tilaa paranemiselle – miten kromatiinin avoimuus muuttuu eturauhassyövässä? Eturauhassyöpä on miesten yleisin syöpä länsimaissa, ja sen kehitys johtaa usein kastraatioresistenttiin muotoon (CRPC). Tutkimus keskittyy siihen, miten kromatiinin avoimuuden muutokset vaikuttava…

Kromatiinin muutokset syövässä eivät rajoitu vain geeneihin. Väitöskirjatutkija Joonas Uusi-Mäkelä (Nykter Lab) kertoo kuinka kromatiinin pakkautuminen tai avoimuus muuttuu myös eturauhassyövässä.
tumorgenetics.blog/2025/04/10/t...

Room For Improvement – How Does the Accessibility of Chromatin Change in Prostate Cancer? Prostate cancer, prevalent in Western men, often leads to castration-resistant forms, posing treatment challenges. A study examines chromatin accessibility changes during cancer progression using p…

Genes aren't the only part of chromosomes that can change in cancer cells. Doctoral researcher Joonas Uusi-Mäkelä (Nykter Lab) shares some recent results about how chromatin compactness, or accessibility, also changes in prostate cancer.
tumorgenetics.blog/2025/04/10/r...