LAUSR

Scientific progress moves on a high-speed train, creating an exponential growth in knowledge. Scientists unavoidably focus and specialize in their topic, digging into the depths of microscopic detail. While this is an essential approach towards discovery, the process of specializing will take the scientists’ vision further away from a comprehensive understanding, which takes us to the importance of collaboration. Funding agencies today encourage collaborations to obtain a broader vision and foster creativity through the bridging of disciplines. With this in mind, a partnership was initiated in 2007 between the University of Oslo, Ume a University, the University of Helsinki and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), with the aim of creating a highly competitive network of institutes and facilities dedicated to Molecular Medicine. The partnership was renewed in 2013 with the addition of a Danish node to the Network, upon the opening of the Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience at Aarhus University. In addition to the partnership between the nodes, each of the Nordic research centres engages in collaborations with other national partners, including research and public health institutes, hospitals and research councils, to establish an extensive Nordic network for Molecular Medicine. We interviewed Jaakko Kaprio, who was interim Director of the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) until January 2018; Bernt Eric Uhlin, Director of Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS); Kjetil Task en, Director of the Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway (NCMM); and Poul Nissen, Director of the Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience (DANDRITE) as well as Silke Schumacher, Director of International Relations at EMBL, to bring an exemplary model of collaboration into the limelight.