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University of Helsinki, Finland

University of Helsinki, established in 1640, is the largest and most versatile research university in Finland doing pioneering multidisciplinary research with 11 faculties and over 36 000 students and researchers. (Read more on the Helsinki University website). The participating research groups belong to the Faculty of Medicine, Research Program Unit (Hautaniemi and Carpén), and the Faculty of Law (Korpisaari). Hautaniemi and Carpén belong to the Systems Oncology (ONCOSYS) Research Program, which provides an extraordinary compilation of clinical, cell biology, translational research and measurement technology expertise; an excellent environment for cross-disciplinary data-intensive research . Both groups are also part of the iCAN (Digital precision cancer medicine for discoveries and improved treatments) flagship program coordinated from University of Helsinki.

Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki is the leading Finnish institute of legal research and education. The faculty is international and scientifically very well ranked institution, focusing on, among other things, problem-oriented research carried out across both the traditional branches of law and the disciplines of science. Read more on the faculty of law website.

Sampsa Hautaniemi

Sampsa Hautaniemi

Sampsa Hautaniemi, DTech, Professor of Systems Biology and Principal Investigator at the Research Programs Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, is the coordinator of the DECIDER project. In addition to coordination and management, Hautaniemi’s research group will be responsible for quality control, analysis and processing of whole-genome, transcriptomics and ctDNA sequencing data as well as management of the data generated in the project. Hautaniemi’s group will also contribute to the image analyses and to the development of the software for guiding clinical decisions. Hautaniemi’s research group has a long track record in the analysis and integration of large-scale deep sequencing data. He has pioneered a computational ecosystem for rapid and systematic analysis of biomedical data. Read more on the Hautaniemi lab website.

Olli Carpén

Olli Carpén

Olli Carpén, professor, leads the Precision Cancer Pathology laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki. Professor Carpén has a strong background and expertise in translational cancer research and in pathology oriented biomarker discovery. He also has extensive experience in translational pathology, including the use of archived or prospectively collected tissue specimens for biomarker identification. Carpén group focuses on several state-of-the-art technologies in tissue-based diagnostics, including multiplex immunohistochemistry, RNA in situ hybridization and tissue-based DNA analytics. They works closely with Helsinki Biobank and, together with the biobank, have built several cancer cohorts, combining digital pathology, next generation Tissue Microarrays (TMA) and comprehensive longitudinal electronic health record information obtained through Helsinki University Hospital datalake. In DECIDER, Carpén group coordinates the validation experiments with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples. Read more on the Carpén lab website.

Päivi Korpisaari

Päivi Korpisaari

Päivi Korpisaari is professor at Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, and leads a research team with a strong expertise in EU, medical and privacy law, specialising in patients’ human and fundamental rights and treatment with personalised therapies. The team will conduct research on European Medicines Agency (EMA) existing regulatory framework from a cancer patient’s view, and will, for example, provide guidelines to accelerate translation of research into personalised therapies whilst ensuring the safety and privacy of the patients; and facilitate commercialisation and availability of personalised therapies. Korpisaari has led several research projects related to personal data protection. In DECIDER, the legal team’s aim is to overcome legal challenges that impede or slow down the provision of new treatments for chemotherapy resistance in high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients and facilitate the commercialisation and availability of personalized therapies in an ethically and legally sustainable manner. Read more about Päivi Korpisaari here.