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Systems Epidemiology Laboratory (Kettunen & Ala-Korpela Lab)

Summary

The Systems Epidemiology Laboratory is situated within the Research Unit of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Oulu and Biocenter Oulu, Finland. Co-led by Professor Johannes Kettunen and Professor Mika Ala-Korpela, the lab is composed of a multidisciplinary team focused on integrating genomics, transcriptomics, lipidomics, and metabolomics to uncover biological networks and drivers of common complex diseases.

Research Areas

  • Metabolic Biomarker Discovery: Utilizing high-throughput platforms (such as the Nightingale Health NMR Platform) to profile circulating lipids, lipoproteins, and low-molecular-weight metabolites across large cohorts.
  • Genetic Regulation of Metabolism: Performing large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analyses (such as the 2024 metabolic traits GWAS of over 136,000 individuals) to dissect the genetic architecture of circulating metabolites and identify causal genes (e.g., TRIM5).
  • Disease Association and Translation: Leveraging biobanks and resources (e.g., FinnGen, UK Biobank) and analytical frameworks (like Mendelian Randomization and colocalization) to discover causal links between metabolic pathways and clinical outcomes, such as Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP) and hypertension.

Citations