Research
Our research is built on a solid foundation of expertise in medicine, biosciences and engineering. The goal of our research is to generate new knowledge and develop applications that improve human health and well-being. Our research interests focus on biomedicine, biomaterials, tissue engineering, biomeasurements, bioimaging, computational methods and modelling, cell and molecular biology and clinical medicine.
In 2021, we established five research centres: the Celiac Disease Research Center, the Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center Tampere, the Prostate Cancer Research Center, the Tampere Center for Child, Adolescent and Maternal Health Research, and the Science Mimicking Life Research Center. In addition, we launched the new Research Center for Vaccine Development and Immunology in response to a recommendation by an international specialist committee. The Regea Cell and Tissue Center and the Finnish Hub for the Development and Validation of Integrated Approaches (FHAIVE) are also housed at MET. The Vaccine Research Center, which carried out clinical vaccine trials in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry, was also located within MET in 2021, but the centre’s commercial vaccine research activities will be transferred to the newly established Finvac Oy, a special-assignment company founded by the Finnish government and Tampere University Foundation in 2022.
We coordinate the Centre of Excellence in Body-on-Chip Research funded by the Academy of Finland and participate in the Centre of Excellence in Tumour Genetics Research. We also coordinate the Health Data Science profiling initiative funded by the Academy of Finland.
In 2021, we initiated four EU-funded projects exploring the treatment of epilepsy, environmental toxicology, the application of artificial intelligence in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and safe-by-design nanomaterials. All in all, we launched more than 60 externally funded research projects in 2021.
Our annual MET Research Day was organised in a virtual format in November. The programme of the event, which stretched over two separate half-day sessions, included three keynote speeches, 130 presentations delivered by our researchers and students and two networking sessions. More than 300 participants attended the event.
We maintain a strong presence in the national network of academic biocentres through Biocenter Finland, which comprises MET and five other biocentres. The goal of the network is to develop technology services to support the advancement of biosciences and biomedicine. We coordinate two technology platforms maintained by Biocenter Finland: the Proteomics platform and the Non-mammalian model organisms platform.
Education
We offer Finnish-language degree programmes in biotechnology and biomedical engineering with a focus on either natural sciences or engineering, and a Finnish-language licentiate programme in medicine. In addition, we offer two English-language master’s programmes. We are the second largest provider of medical speciality training in Finland and also offer training in five dental specialties. We arrange licensing examinations for foreign-trained doctors who have graduated outside the EU/EEA and are looking to obtain a license to practice medicine in Finland.
Our degree programmes are consistently popular among applicants, and the minimum score required for admission, for example, to the Degree Programme in Biomedical Engineering is high. Altogether 926 applicants (144 were first-choice applicants) applied for admission to the Degree Programme in Biotechnology, 788 (167 were first-choice applicants) to the Degree Programme in Biomedical Engineering, and 4,595 (1,567 were first-choice applicants) to the Licentiate Degree Programme in Medicine. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, we were able to organise in-person entrance examinations as normal. Virtually all our applicants admitted to study for a licentiate degree in medicine take up the offered study place and complete their degree.
We provide medical education in collaboration with the hospital districts of Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Kanta-Häme and the municipalities located in the catchment area of Tampere University Hospital. A defining feature of our education is the use of activating strategies to support learning. The strategies include, for example, problem-based learning (PBL), case-based learning (CBL) and team-based learning (TBL). In 2021, we continued the partial integration of the education we offer in natural sciences, engineering and medicine by focusing on the fields of cell biology, genetics and biochemistry. We also offered a shared course in human anatomy and physiology to all students enrolled in our Finnish-language degree programmes for the first time.
Together with the hospitals and municipal health centres located within our region’s catchment area, we produce the second largest number of medical doctors in Finland who complete continuing education. Our range of continuing medical and dental education includes medical specialty training, dental specialty training, specialist education in general medicine, and continuing education for medical specialists. The provision of continuing medical and dental education is governed by decrees issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and the programmes follow a consistent curriculum in all the medical schools in Finland. In 2021, 196 persons graduated from our continuing education programmes; 155 of them completed a specialist degree in medicine or dentistry.
We offer one joint Doctoral Programme in Medicine, Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering and conferred 41 doctoral degrees in 2021. The pandemic affected the delivery of doctoral education, and consequently some of our doctoral defences were organised in a virtual format.
Societal impact
Our researchers contribute to society through multiple avenues. As the Covid-19 pandemic has dragged on, they have appeared as expert commentators on news programmes and published newspaper articles, sharing evidence-based information about the coronavirus, the mechanisms of the infection and the vaccines developed against the virus. Our faculty members have served in advisory roles on the administrative bodies managing the ongoing health and social services reform in Finland and sought to strengthen the position of research and education in the newly established wellbeing services county.
We are actively involved in innovation activities. Our researchers have filed invention disclosures and patent applications in close collaboration with Tampere University’s Research and Innovation Services. They have also continued their active participation in the international SPARK community and launched new startups.
In 2021, our staff submitted 22 invention disclosures and three patent applications, received funding from Business Finland for four new Research to Business projects, and founded three spin-off companies: Fluivia specialises in liquid biopsy analysis, GreenSeq in microbiological analysis, and StemSight develops cell-based therapies to treat corneal blindness.