The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine

On 3 October 2007, an agreement was signed between the University of Oslo, Umeå University, University of Helsinki and EMBL to establish three Nodes of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine and to collaborate closely in the area of molecular medicine.

The growing field of molecular medicine investigates the molecular basis of disease and explores molecularly and genetically based treatments. In order to tackle some of the most challenging problems in biomedicine, molecular medicine draws on a range of technologies, expertises and skills from different disciplines.

The partnership facilitates scientific collaboration, access to scientific infrastructure, including databases, facilities and instrumentation, as well as to services and training activities provided by the partners.

In addition to their partnership with EMBL, the individual Nordic research centres engage in collaborations with other national partners, including research and public health institutes, hospitals and research councils, to establish an extensive Nordic network for molecular medicine.

The objectives of the Partnership are first, to facilitate and institutionalise scientific exchange and support in areas of common interest, or where one partner has a recognised expertise, which can be shared for the benefit of the other partners. Second, the Partnership Nodes will implement aspects of EMBL's administrative model, such as international recruitment, staff turnover, and external scientific review as far as this is legally and practically possible.

The Partnership will focus on research in molecular medicine which will build on complementary strengths in all four partner institutes: EMBL's recognised research strength in areas such as molecular, cellular and developmental biology, bioinformatics and structural biology; Norway's strength in molecular mechanisms of disease; Sweden's strength in microbial pathogenicity and molecular infection medicine; and Finland's strength in integrated clinical and basic biomedical research coupled with population-wide genetic epidemiology and well characterised databases.

The Norwegian Node of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine is the Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway [NCMM]. It is hosted by the University of Oslo in partnership with the Regional Health Authority SouthEast, and with links to the other Universities and Regional Health Authorities in Norway. The University of Oslo [UoO] is the largest research institution in Norway with more than 6000 staff and 33 000 students. UoO has extensive research activity in molecular medicine, clinical medicine and molecular life sciences relevant to the operation of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine.

The Swedish Node of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine is the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden [MIMS]. MIMS is established within the Umeå Centre for Microbial Research [UCMR] and is affiliated with both the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science and Technology and closely connected to the university hospital [Norrlands University Hospital].

UCMR consists of researchers active in the fields of molecular and clinical microbiology, molecular biology, chemistry, and physics and the research groups include a pronounced international profile with many guest researchers and graduate students, as well as faculty members, from other countries. The groups work in modern laboratories with well-equipped common facilities creating a framework for a creative and highly interactive environment.

Support for MIMS is granted by the Swedish Research Council with the aim to strengthen Swedish research and enhance the dynamics in the field of molecular medicine, partly by promoting the career opportunities for young scientists.

The Finnish Node of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine will be the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland [FIMM].

FIMM is a joint venture of the University of Helsinki, the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa [HUS], and the National Public Health Institute [KTL]. The aim of FIMM is to merge the strategic resources and research in the field of molecular medicine, genetics and epidemiology in Finland, capitalising on the Finnish genetic-epidemiological and clinical materials and registers, as well as to develop into a high-profile international institute of translational research. The mission of the Institute is to advance new fundamental understanding of the molecular, cellular and etiological basis of human diseases. This understanding will lead to improved means of diagnostics and the treatment and prevention of common health problems.