Dear colleagues,

You are warmly invited to a FinnGen seminar at the University of Oulu on Thursday, 29 January 2026, from 10:00-11:45 (please note the unusual location of the Pohde auditorium, described below). The event brings together FinnGen leadership and local researchers to showcase how large-scale biobank data can advance disease genetics and clinical insight. 

The keynote speakers of the seminar are Professors Mark Daly and Aarno Palotie, founders of the FinnGen project. Professor Daly is a pioneer in human genetics and founding Chief of the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Professor Palotie is the Scientific Director of FinnGen and has played a key role in the success of research in human genetics in the Nordic countries promoting genome studies that utilise the unique Nordic health registers.

FinnGen is the largest biomedical research project in Finland, combining genome data from over 500 000 participants with nationwide health registry data. The project enables research across a wide range of diseases and supports close collaboration between clinicians, researchers, and data scientists.

We warmly welcome researchers from clinical medicine, biosciences, genetics, epidemiology, bioinformatics, and related fields who are interested in using registry-linked genomic data in their research.

Program

9:45–10:00 Coffee and baked goods at Aapistie 7A, main lobby

(Please note: after the coffee break, we will move together to the Pohde auditorium A101)

10:00–11:00 Prof. Mark Daly & Prof. Aarno Palotie: FinnGen and the road ahead in human genetics

11:00–11:25 Prof. Kaisa Tasanen-Määttä: Leveraging FinnGen data to understand inflammatory skin diseases

11:25–11:45 Senior Research Fellow Elisa Rahikkala: Genome-wide association study identifies XXYLT1 as a novel gene for inherited recessive retinal dystrophy

Location

Coffee: Aapistie 7A, main lobby

Auditorium: Aapistie 7A, 1st floor, Pohde Lecture Hall A101 

(Entry via Kuntoutuksen poliklinikka / Waiting Area 2)

We look forward to seeing you there!

Registration is not required, but we kindly ask on-site participants to sign up via the following link by the end of this week to help us plan the catering:

https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/CAC72DA32E8B8CCD

Link for remote participation:

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/39107198670758?p=LtQM7neySZ710elsQf

Best regards,

Jaakko Tyrmi

--

Jaakko Tyrmi
Senior Research Fellow
Research Unit of Population Health / FinnGen support network
Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu
Email: jaakko.tyrmi@oulu.fi