Turku – a hotspot for diagnostics research and industry expertise

The Turku region is a hotspot for diagnostics research and industry expertise. Turku’s strong expertise in the diagnostics industry is based on its active and versatile business sector, as well as the University of Turku’s internationally renowned work in tracer development.

Turku’s strong expertise in the diagnostics industry is based on its active and versatile business sector, as well as the University of Turku’s internationally renowned work in tracer development. The companies in the region have been developing diagnostic methods for a long time now, and the field has become a nationally significant source of employment and export revenue.

The University of Turku’s and Åbo Akademi University’s joint bioimaging centre is responsible for coordinating the pan-European Euro-BioImaging (EuBi) network that includes 27 imaging organisations. The network provides researchers with the opportunity to utilise modern imaging technologies that are located all around Europe.

“Several research groups in the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University are working on diagnostics developing new tests, test reagents, assay techniques, measuring methods, measuring devices, result deduction or interpretation software and algorithms as well as tools for personalized medicine, “ explains Pauli Ollikka, the project coordinator of Drug Development and Diagnostics, a common research profiling area of the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, funded by the Academy of Finland.

Turku PET Centre, which is a top expert unit of the Hospital District of Southwest Finland, is one of Europe’s largest and most internationally renowned imaging service units. “The Centre focuses primarily on cell energy metabolism, brain research and drug development imaging. The Centre is developing new types of nuclear medicines that are suitable for Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes research and treatment monitoring,” says Professor Juhani Knuuti, director of Turku PET Centre.

The Turku region is a hotspot for diagnostics industry expertise. PerkinElmer Wallac has developed a technology in Turku that has resulted in an entirely new field forming around it (neonatal screening). The region’s other diagnostics industry companies include Hidex, Abacus Diagnostica, ArcDia International, Labrox as well as Hytest, which manufactures so-called heart tracers.

Read more: www.drugdevelopment.fi

Facts:

• Turku PET Centre conducts around 2,000 imaging sessions per year
• the diagnostics industry employs around 1,000 people