Åbo Akademi University is contributing to a national Centre of Excellence, financed by the Academy of Finland for the period 2014–2019: Centre of Excellence in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease. The Centre carries out research into cardiovascular diseases as well as into how diabetes occurs. The researchers involved are looking for ways to prevent, diagnose and treat the illnesses in question. The research is focused in particular on so-called metabolic syndrome. The name is a collective term for a number of factors that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and abdominal obesity.
The Centre of Excellence in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease is a joint venture between Åbo Akademi University, the University of Turku, Turku University Hospital and the University of Eastern Finland, and is led by Turku PET Centre’s director, Professor Juhani Knuuti.
Internal Centres of Excellence
Åbo Akademi University also has Internal Centres of Excellence. Åbo Akademi University Foundation is supporting the research environments with supplementary financial resources for four years.
Internal Centres of Excellence 1.3.2019-28.2.2023:
- Professor Kimmo Grönlund: The Future of Democracy – Center of Excellence in Public Opinion Research (FutuDem)
- Professor Cecilia Sahlgren: Center of Excellence in Cellular Mechanostasis (CellMech)
- Professor Ronald Österbacka: Center of Excellence in Bioelectronic Activation of Cell Functions (BACE)
- Professor Jan Saarela: Demographic change and ethnolinguistic identity in an intergenerational perspective: The Swedish‐speaking population in Finland (DemSwed)
