First sponsored research professorship carrying donor’s name established in Finland

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"The K. Albin Johansson Research Professor at the Finnish Cancer Institute". Such is the soon-to-be title of cancer researcher Akseli Hemminki.
      The title is not just a mouthful, but also historic: it is the first cancer research title in Finland that carries the name of the sponsor.
      Shipowner K. Albin Johansson's Foundation donated a five-year research professorship to the Finnish Cancer Institute in conjunction with the Institute’s 20th anniversary last year. Akseli Hemminki from the University of Helsinki's Biomedicum unit, who studies the use of gene therapy and cancer-destroying viruses in the treatment of various types of cancer, was chosen for the post.
     
The beginning of the new research professorship may also witness the launch of a new form a cancer treatment. The first treatment developed by Hemminki’s CGTG research team may become available to patients towards the end of the year.
      What would be new is the team’s way of constructing treatments for patients suffering from spread cancers, for which there are no effective treatments: no sponsoring from drug plants, trading licence, patent, or profit seeking, just individually tailored treatment combinations by using viruses produced by the team.
      For Hemminki, the start of such treatments would be the fulfilment of a long-term dream. "Since the year 2000 we have waited for the moment when we can start treating patients."
      Hemminki describes tending to people’s needs as the work he enjoys most.


Links:
  Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Univ. of Helsinki
  In close-up: Akseli Hemminki

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