Medical bioinformatics combines mathematics and computer science with bioscience and medical research. The services of the Medical Bioinformatics Centre are offered especially to biomedical and molecular biology researchers who produce extensive measurement data in their research.

​The Medical Bioinformatics Centre provides bioinformatics support for research groups analysing extensive measurement data produced with modern biotechnologies.

The bioinformatics research and method development carried out at the Centre creates a strong foundation for selecting reliable analysis methods for bioinformatics support projects.

– Our personnel are strongly involved in scientific research and represent a very broad range of expertise in different areas of bioinformatics and life sciences. We have also actively developed bioinformatics support functions for over ten years already, and we have a leading role in the development of bioinformatics support functions at the national level, says Laura Elo, Professor of Computational Medicine.

Elo is the research director of bioinformatics and the team leader of computational medicine at Turku Bioscience. Elo’s research develops computational data analysis tools and statistical and machine learning methods to promote the interpretation of extensive molecular and clinical materials in medical research.

Skilled personnel is the most important resource

The Medical Bioinformatics Centre employs a total of 25 people, five of whom are focused on bioinformatics support functions. Professor Laura Elo says that the most valuable resource at the Centre is its skilled and experienced personnel.

– Our bioinformatics experts are required to have expertise in computer science, statistics, mathematics, genetics and molecular biology. Good communication and interaction skills are also essential when working with different research groups, Elo says.

Support for researchers analysing extensive measurement data

Support Manager Asta Laiho, responsible for support functions at the Centre, has had a long career in bioinformatics support functions and did her doctoral thesis in the field of information technology.

Laiho explains that bioinformatics support services are mostly used by local and national academic biomedical and molecular biology researchers who produce extensive measurement data in their research.

– Analysing this data requires special expertise and efficient high-performance computing to process and produce it into easily interpretable scientific results, says Laiho.

The Centre also organises bioinformatics education for university students and researchers. The monthly Bioinformatics Journal Club, open for everyone interested, discusses the latest top publications in bioinformatics.

> Read more about the services of the Medical Bioinformatics Centre!