Introduction

The A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences (AIVI) was founded in 1989. The main tasks of the Institute are biomedical research, the profile being on molecular medicine, and postgraduate training. AIVI is one of the six Finnish biocenters and an active member of the Biocenter Finland consortium. The Institute is a salient partner at the Graduate School of Molecular Medicine and harbors also a Master's School of its own.

The Dean of the Institute is Professor Ari Hinkkanen and the Vice Dean is Professor Asla Pitkänen. AIVI is located in the Bioteknia I and II buildings on the Kuopio University Campus and Kuopio Science Park, and houses altogether 12 research groups organized into two departments:

Biomedical NMR Cell Biology Epilepsy Research Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Molecular Brain Research Molecular Signalling Neurobiology of Memory	Animal Biotechnology Gene Transfer Technology Molecular Medicine Molecular Physiology Novel Target Molecules

• Organization Chart

Graduate School

AIVI is a central partner at the Graduate School of Molecular Medicine, and more than 90 postgraduate students of the School prepare their doctoral theses at AIVI. AIVI holds a status as a Centre of Excellence in Teaching (2007-2009).

MSc Programs

AIVI has two international MSc programs:

• MSc Program in Molecular Medicine and Biotechnology
• MSc Program in Neurobiology

Core Facilities

• biomedical imaging (e.g. MRI, Spect/CT)
• embryo laboratory for gene-modified animal production
• virus laboratories for gene therapy and cell-based treatment
• phenotyping of disease models (especially CNS models)
• bioinformatics core facility