The Orion Research Foundation has awarded two EUR 100,000 grants to two acclaimed Finnish researchers to fund their research in the field of chemistry.
Grants have been received by Johanna Ivaska, Academy Professor of Biochemistry, University of Turku, and Mikko Niemi, Professor of Pharmacogenetics, University of Helsinki.
The awards are part of a bigger programme which has seen the Orion Research Foundation, which was established in 1957, distribute a total of EUR 800,000 to about a hundred researchers, based on their applications for research in medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacy and related sciences, such as chemistry and physics.
Most of the grants are intended for doctoral dissertation work and postdoctoral research by young researchers.
Recipient Johanna Ivaska is an internationally distinguished researcher who specialises in the role of intracellular changes in metastatic development in cancer.
The innovative approach of her research is providing significant new data on the migration and traffic of cancer cells in tissue. Ivaska’s research is anticipated to lead to scientific breakthroughs in biomedicine.
Twice during her career, Ivaska has received research funding awarded by the European Research Council, which is among the most notable grants in the world and is subject to tough competition.
Mikko Niemi is an internationally renowned researcher of pharmacogenetics who specialises in the effects of genetic differences on drug efficacy and safety.
At the core of his research are the hundreds of different transporter proteins in cell membranes carrying chemicals to and from cells.
The significance of proteins as drug transporters has only emerged in recent years and the aim of his research is to find safer and more tailored pharmaceutical treatment. Like Ivaska, he has also received the ERC funding twice.
Chairman of the grants selection board Risto Renkonen, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Helsinki, said: “Ivaska and Niemi are world-leading researchers in the field of medicine and pharmacology.
“Orion Research Foundation wants to build well-being through new innovations. Ivaska and Niemi are internationally recognised researchers with their dynamic research teams, producing new generations of researchers in Finland.”
