BioWorld International Correspondent

Early in the new year, Finland's national science and technology policy council, which is chaired by the country's prime minister, Matti Vanhanen, will consider a proposal from the Academy of Finland to establish an international basic research center focused on molecular medicine that would be affiliated with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

The planned center would be international in scope and would house some 200 researchers, working in areas such as molecular genetics and epidemiology, molecular mechanisms of epidemic diseases and translational research.

There already is momentum behind the proposal, as the government previously has called for greater internationalization of Finnish research. A government strategy document, approved in September, states that "the principles and operating approaches for the funding of large-scale scientific infrastructures and participation in international scientific infrastructure projects will be laid down" over the next two years.

In response, the Academy of Finland convened a group of international experts, which included Finnish expatriate scientists working overseas, to consider possible options. The resulting report was presented to the country's education and science minister, Tulia Haatainen, in mid-December. It envisages a center based on the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) model of groups with 10 to 15 members and short-term, fixed contracts for researchers.

Lea Ryyn nen-Karjalainen, of the Helsinki-based Academy of Finland, said the country's EMBL delegates have discussed the concept with EMBL representatives from other Nordic states, as the proposed institute would cooperate with research centers throughout the region. The area, she said, is characterized by the availability of detailed patient registers, sophisticated health care systems, heterogeneous populations, as well as population segments that are highly homogeneous and by the occurrence of genetic diseases that are specific to the region. Up to now, however, the "Nordic dimension" to biomedical research has been under used, she said.

The EMBL, based in Heidelberg, Germany, was established in 1974 as an international basic research center for molecular biology in Europe. It receives funding from 16 European countries, plus Israel. It already operates four out-stations: one each in the UK, France, Italy and Germany. The proposed center would receive funding from the Finnish government initially but could eventually source part of its budget from the EMBL.

"This format, I think, is pretty new," Ryyn nen-Karjalainen told BioWorld International.

Finland contributes about 1.3 percent of the EMBL's budget. It also has contributed its chairman for 2004, Eero Vuorio, who is chancellor of the University of Turku.