The donation has been earmarked to support research on neurodegenerative diseases and their risk and protective factors, including immunity and genetics. This means research that combines large scale genetic and other molecular data with detailed information on immune responses, viral infections and vaccinations. 

The donation, made through the Swiss foundation Pipistrel, is the first private donation ever received by FIMM and marks an important milestone for the institute. 

“This is a very special moment for us. Receiving our first private donation is a strong vote of confidence in FIMM’s scientific vision and the research environment we have built together with our local and global partners,” says Samuli Ripatti, Director of FIMM. 

The donor wishes to remain anonymous

According to the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, the decision to support research at FIMM was based on the “exceptional capabilities the institute has built up over many years, this all driven by its scientific ambitions to influence patient treatment through world class science.”

Identify individuals at high risk early on

The long term goal is to identify individuals at high risk early on, to lower disease risk through preventive immune enhancement measures such as vaccinations or antiviral treatments, and so delay the onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s further into old age. 

Linking infections to neurodegenerative diseases

In recent years, several international studies have provided evidence that viral exposures and immune processes appear to influence the risk and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, reports FIMM. These findings suggest that some of the most common and devastating brain diseases could, in the future, be prevented, delayed or treated in entirely new ways, they describe. The research concept supported by the donation focuses on understanding how genetic susceptibility interacts with immune responses and environmental exposures over a person’s lifetime.  

The research concept supported by the donation focuses on understanding how genetic susceptibility interacts with immune responses and environmental exposures over a person’s lifetime.  

Finland’s unique strengths 

Finland’s comprehensive health registers, population based studies and biobank network, combined with ambitious research initiatives such as the FinnGen study with genetic data from hundreds of thousands of participants, create a globally unique foundation for studying complex diseases across the life course, FIMM states. At FIMM, these data resources are integrated with expertise in genomics, AI and data science, molecular medicine and translational research, and is supported by a wide international collaboration network. 

The donor has mentioned that these strengths are no coincidence. “The bold decisions taken by the University of Helsinki to establish and support over the years an institute like FIMM, with its focus on scientific excellence in the context of translational research, important partnerships with other organisations in Finland and abroad and of course the longterm investments by the Finnish government, are key enablers. Very few places in the world can realistically carry out this kind of research at scale,” the donor notes. 

“Seed funding enables bold initiatives”

With the donation, FIMM will open a competitive project proposal call in early 2026. One to two research projects will receive seed funding to explore innovative approaches to neurodegenerative disease research within the scope of the donation. 

For Director Ripatti, private donations play an important role in enabling bold and timely research initiatives. “Seed funding allows researchers to take risks, to combine disciplines in innovative ways and to test novel hypotheses using unique data resources. The donation will help us stay at the forefront of transformative research of one of the biggest burdens in our ageing societies,” he says. 

Source: University of Helsinki