Professor Leena Peltonen-Palotie, ScanBalt Academy Vice Chairman, is awarded the Van Gysel Prize for BioMedical Research 2006

Professor Leena Peltonen-Palotie, ScanBalt Academy Vice Chairman, is awarded the Van Gysel Prize for BioMedical Research 2006.

Professor Leena Peltonen-Palotie has received the triennial Van Gysel Prize of 100.000 euros for her outstanding contribution to human genetics.
The results of Professor Peltonen-Palotie’s research have provided novel information of essential genetic mechanisms in many human inherited diseases. She has pioneered genetic analyses based on isolated human populations, thereby facilitating early diagnoses of inherited diseases and enabling development of strategies for therapeutic interventions.
Professor Peltonen-Palotie works at the Department of Medical Genetics, University of Helsinki, and the Department of Molecular Medicine of the National Public Health Institute, Finland. She leads both a national and a Nordic Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics as well as a major European twin study, GenomEUtwin.
The Van Gysel Prize, aimed at promoting the development of higher teaching and research in the biomedical field, has been awarded since 1990 every three years to a European scientist. Professor Peltonen-Palotie is the first Finnish scientist to receive this distinguished award.