Cancer researcher George Steven Bova will become FiDiPro Professor at the University of Tampere

George Steven Bova, Professor from Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, will start at the University of Tampere as a FiDiPro Professor. Professor Bova is going to research prostate cancer at the Institute of Biomedical Technology where he will collaborate with Vice-director Tapio Visakorpi, Professor of Cancer Genetics.

Effective individualized cancer prevention and therapy have been impeded by the fact that the present research has been unable to distinguish critically important observations from irrelevant ones. In order to identify important individual differences between patients with cancer, the patient and the patient’s cancer, heredity and environment (including the patient’s other illnesses) must be taken into consideration.  In this research, Professor Bova will work to develop molecular autopsy studies.

Professor Bova (b. 1956) is a highly merited scientist in lethal metastatic prostate cancer who has successfully commercialised his research innovations. As FiDiPro Professor, Bova will continue the analysis of the mechanics of prostate cancer and create programs to research rare and common cancers in Finland.

The Finland Distinguished Professor program finances the work of leading foreign scientists in Finland for 10 ME for a funding period of five years. In addition to the University of Tampere, the new FiDiPro Professors will also start working at Aalto University and the Universities of Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Oulu and Turku and at the Tampere University of Technology. For example, the professors research the nanoparticle-facilitated catalysis in solar cells, the political system of Russia, geometric inverse problems, the development of the mammalian kidney and the immune cell trafficking within the lymphatics.

The Finland Distinguished Professor Programme is a joint programme funded by the Academy of Finland and Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation. With funding from the programme, Finnish universities and research institutes can hire foreign or expatriate Finnish top researchers to work in Finland for a fixed term. Tekes also has the FiDiPro Fellow funding scheme which is specifically targeted at young researchers.

There are currently four other FiDiPro Professors at the University of Tampere: Stephen J. Bailey at the School of Management and Professors Dan Hultmark, Laurie Kaguni and Hans Lilja at the Institute of Biomedical Technology.

List of the New FiDiPro Professors and their research projects