Pioneering work in the field of human gene research

Finnish professor Leena Peltonen has been awarded the honorary title of Academician of Science.

Based on nominations by the Academy of Finland, the President of the Republic of Finland may confer the honorary title of Academician to highly distinguished Finnish or foreign scientists and scholars. Academician Leena Peltonen (b. 1952) is one of the world’s foremost and most respected experts in gene research. She has conducted pioneering work in the field of human gene research, with special focus on disease genes. Her research results have shed valuable new light on the basic mechanisms of several diseases.

Academician Leena Peltonen has held several professorships and other significant positions at research organisations both at home and abroad. In 1998 she moved to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to establish a major genetic research centre. After nine years in the United States, she was in 2007 invited to become Head of Human Genetics at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Europe’s leading genome research centre

Further information about the nomination