Description
The University of Oulu is an international science university that creates new knowledge, well-being, and innovations for the future through research and education. The University of Oulu, founded in 1958, is one of the largest and most multidisciplinary universities in Finland. The Faculty of Medicine is an integral part of the Kontinkangas Life Sciences Campus, and is situated next to the Oulu University Hospital. The campus is a unique combination of partners in research, education, health services, and business. The faculty provides versatile education in the field of health sciences. The Research Unit of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) provides an outstanding research environment to conduct the proposed studies with state-of-the-art facilities for biomedical research. HST conducts high-quality research in medical imaging, physics, technology and biomedicine and shares expertise with businesses in the Oulu region, as well as nationally and internationally. We develop new innovations not only for imaging, physics and technology research, but also for clinical applications. The Research unit of Population Health aims at research excellence in the fields of life-course epidemiology, systems epidemiology, psychiatric epidemiology, occupational health, health activity, public health, environmental health as well as oral health and clinical practices. Lifelong health is the cross-cutting theme of our research. We view human health from the perspective of different disciplines from individual to global scale.
Role with PROBE
Professor Ali Mobasheri’s research group in the Research Unit of Health Sciences and Technology at the University of Oulu is focused on cartilage biology, identification and validation of biomarkers of osteoarthritis, and the development and application of biomimetic in vitro models for the study of cartilage, synovium, and intervertebral disc in the context of extracellular matrix (ECM) degeneration and regeneration. Professor Simo Saarakkala’s research group in the Research Unit of Health Sciences and Technology at the University of Oulu is developing novel and innovative clinical diagnostic and follow-up methods for early osteoarthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases. Specifically, non-invasive ultrasound imaging, as well as thermal, acoustic, and kinematic measurements, are currently under investigation and development in the group. Professor Johannes Kettunen’s research group in the Research Unit of Population Health at the University of Oulu focuses on unifying large multiomics datasets and epidemiological data to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of common morbidities. One of the current hot topics is understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying systemic biomarkers that predict all-cause mortality, leveraging large biobank studies in the genetic epidemiology of diverse diseases, and unraveling the genetic determinants of human metabolism.
