Partner 38: The University of Helsinki (UH-HI)

 UH-HI is a European university of excellence. The medical faculty harbours Haartman Institute, which covers research fields on microbiology, pathology and genetics (about 500 employees). One part of the institute is the Department of Virology with about 110 employees of which about 35 are researchers. A large laboratory in clinical virology (40 employees) is affiliated to the department. SEAFOODplus is affiliated to the Department of Virology. The Dept. of Virology has developed a great variety of methods in molecular biology which are in use at the department. The activity around environmental virology is covered by the research group of prof. C-H v Bonsdorff. It comprises 4 to 8 persons. This is the only unit in Finland centering its activity around research on human pathogens in the environment. In particular, methods to detect viruses in water and foodstuff have been developed. The findings have been connected to the findings from patient diagnostics (also established and maintained by the group) for these enteric viruses. The Department of Virology is the reference laboratory for the food- and waterborne viral outbreak investigations in Finland.

 

Key person

Prof. Carl-Henrik von Bonsdorff (project 3.1 REFHEPA).