Seppo Vainio is a professor of developmental biology at the University of Oulu, Finland. He also serves as a director of Kvantum Institute in Oulu University and a Vice Director GeneCellNano flagship that synergizes with the Finngen, a major Finnish genome project, providing GWAS and clinical data of 500,000 Finns (10% population). He is a team leader in Kvantum Institute and InfoTech Oulu organizations. Vainio received his PhD in embryology in Helsinki University, and completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard University Since then he has worked as a professor at Oulu University. The goal of Dr. Vainio’s lab has been primarily to identify the genes, signals and molecular pathways associated with kidney nephron induction, altered kidney and urogenital system development. The InfoTech Oulu the focus area is novel biosensor strategies.
As for some methodological approaches the questions are studied via OMICS platforms, in vivo and ex vivo gene editing, gene knock out, ex vivo organ and organoid culture approaches and time lapse imaging. He is particularly interested today in the cellular and organ level Nano communication roles in organogenesis and in disease. Based on their work relevance to evolution and disease he has formulated a meta theory that integrates the epigenetic and the genetic aspects to a collective and testable frame work for evolution and disease. Vainio is the author of over 200 scientific publications.
