The Chancellor of the University of Helsinki has appointed Janne Nikkilä, DSc (Tech.), docent of computer science on 31 May 2011. Janne heads the bioinformatics unit for emerging therapies and product development at the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service.
Janne describes his research and background:
“My research areas include bioinformatics, statistical data analysis, and machine learning. I’m especially interested in statistical data fusion for biological and medical problems, and I would like to develop personalized medical methods based on that. At Blood Service, the application area for our research on data analysis methods are the interaction between intestinal microbes and their host (humans), stem cells, and the surface structures of cells, especially glycomes and proteomes. Our goal is to use new bio-markers and cell modification to create new patient therapies and therapies that support existing ones.
I also want to stay in touch with the world of academic research, and it has long been my belief that we can reach the best application results by combining a high standard of research with practical flexibility. This is evident in my background, as I have worked in both academia and the world of business simultaneously for a number of years. After graduating from the programme for technical physics at Helsinki University of Technology in 1999, I completed my PhD thesis in Professor Samuel Kaski’s group in 2005, and then worked there as a teaching researcher. Then I transferred to the University of Helsinki and the team of Professor Airi Palva and Professor Willem de Vos to work as a University Researcher. At the same time, in 2003-2010, I worked as a part-time research director in our company, Genolyze Oy. After it merged with Pharmatest Services Oy, I worked there as a part-time scientific adviser, until I started working at Blood Service. I’m still a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at Pharmatest.
In my teaching, I would also like to highlight this application viewpoint to students and other listeners, and I hope I already succeeded in that with my test lecture, "Laskennallisen analyysin rooli terveydentilan kokonaisvaltaisessa ymmärtämisessä" (the role of computational analysis in the overall understanding of state of health). The committee for teaching skills evaluated my performance with the grade excellent, so I think I didn't do too badly.
When I have time left over from research, work, and cycling to work, I spend it on taking out my Italian greyhound.”
Editor: Hannu Toivonen
Photo: Janne Nikkilä