Minerva Foundation Symposium 2025
The Minerva Foundation Symposium 2025 gathered leading experts in medical research to discuss the latest advancements in research to understand and treat various diseases. The event was held in Hanasaari, Espoo on the 23rd & 24th October, 2025.
Over the course of two days, researchers from around the world shared their insights on how genetic discoveries can be transformed into therapeutic approaches and clinical applications. The event welcomed researchers, academics, doctors, and other professionals in medical research and related fields, as well as students and the general public.
Professor Vesa Olkkonen, the Director of Minerva Institute, described the event as a great success: “We had a good number of audience, and the superb lectures by global leaders in their fields evoked lively discussions.”
The two-day event consisted of four sessions, two each day, plus a panel discussion at the end of the second day. The topics and speakers selected for this year’s symposium sessions were:
Steatotic liver disease – Leveraging genetics for therapeutic insight
- Panu Luukkonen, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
- Russell Goodman, Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
- Shawn Burgess, UT Southwestern, USA
- Sami Qadri, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
Incretins – Bench to bedside
- Petter Bjornstad, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- David Cherney, University of Toronto, Canada
- Ian de Boer, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Bone and mineral metabolism, its genetic components and therapeutic approaches
- Wim van Hul, University of Antwerp, Belgium
- Harald Jüppner, Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
- Outi Mäkitie, Folkhälsan, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, Finland
- Heikki Koistinen, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
Genetics and pharmacogenetics in personalized medicine
- Vilma Lammi, FIMM, University of Helsinki and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, US
- Adrian Krainer, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA
- Mikko Niemi, University of Helsinki, Finland
- Elisabeth Widen, FIMM, University of Helsinki, Finland
The symposium concluded with a panel discussion about Emerging new therapies: The path from innovation to cost-effective benefit to the patients with panelists Ian de Boer, Petter Bjornstad, Daniel Gordin, Harald Juppner, Adrian Krainer and Wim van Hul. Sami Pakarinen acted as the moderator of the panel discussion.
Minerva Foundation and Research Institute actively follow the hottest, fastest developing fields of biomedical science, also relevant for the Insitute’s own research. The next Minerva Foundation Symposium will be held in 2027.
About The Minerva Foundation
The Minerva Foundation Symposium is organized every two years by the Minerva Foundation – a private institution dedicated to advancing medical and bioscience research in Finland. The Foundation supports cutting-edge scientific studies and fosters international collaboration to enhance understanding and treatment of various diseases. The Minerva Foundation symposium serves as a platform for sharing the latest research insights and promoting dialogue among leading experts in the field. The symposium is entirely independent, and financed by the Minerva Foundation.
