Congratulations, Euro-BioImaging Finland!

In early 2025, Euro-BioImaging Finland, the Finnish national infrastructure that brings together the Finnish Advanced Microscopy Node (FiAM) and the Finnish Biomedical Imaging (FiBI) Node of Euro-BioImaging along with several other excellent Finnish imaging facilities, was awarded 28 Million Euros to renew equipment and invest in the future. In addition to the funding, Euro-BioImaging Finland was given the “Lighthouse” status on the national infrastructure roadmap, a prestigious status that has only been given to 6 of the 21 national roadmap infrastructures. We spoke to Pasi Kankaanpää, Director of Euro-BioImaging Finland, Irina Belaia, Manager of Finnish Advanced Microscopy (FiAM) Node, and Tiina Saanijoki, Manager of Finnish Biomedical Imaging (FiBI) Node, to learn more about their successful proposal and what it means for their community. 

For a long time, imaging has been recognized as the most important support technology for life science researchers in Finland, and Euro-BioImaging Finland has been on the national infrastructure roadmap for many years. But in early 2025, Euro-BioImaging Finland, a consortium made up of two Euro-BioImaging Nodes and several additional imaging facilities, representing imaging technologies covering all applications from molecules to humans, was awarded 28 Million Euros from the Research Council of Finland to support its development over the next 5 years. “It was the first time the biological and biomedical imaging communities in Finland came together to write a funding proposal and the success of this joint effort is remarkable,” says Tiina Saanijoki. 

What is the scope of your project?

The project is developed around three “destinations” – in vivo imaging, microscopy platforms, and image analysis services. Most of the 28 Million Euros goes into imaging equipment, from replacing critical ageing instruments to instrument upgrades. A lot of the money will be used to purchase newer state-of-the-art, front-runner technologies. There is also funding for personnel, around 8% of the current budget, which represents a newer development in Finnish Research Council grants which previously earmarked funding more for technology investments.  

How will the user community benefit from this funding? 

“The scientific community will benefit from better instruments and from more opportunities to combine biological and biomedical imaging approaches in multimodal experiments. Improvements will also come from developments in Image analysis pipelines and working to implement AI solutions,” explains Pasi. “Altogether, more research communities will be served, from the material sciences to digital agriculture, marine science and chemistry.” 

Better quality instruments will also contribute to continued international collaboration and will contribute to  attracting industry user access. “We already collaborate with 45 private companies but we will be able to expand our services to industry users thanks to this funding,” Irina points out.

Towards greener research infrastructures & SDGs

As a general rule, the Finnish facilities prefer to upgrade existing instruments instead of replacing –as this is more sustainable. But when there is an efficiency gain or new instruments are considered to be greener, then the old instruments will be replaced. For example, this funding will allow investment in new, Helium-free MRI scanners. Traditional MRI scanners use Helium for cooling the magnets but Helium resources are dwindling globally and it’s not a sustainable material. The new generation of Helium-free MRI is considered to be more planet friendly and a worthwhile investment. 

In addition, the facilities plan to continue to develop remote access projects, such as this user story for remote access to Volume EM services at University of Helsinki (FiAM Node) by Uriel Koziel, a researcher located in Uruguay. (see article here). 

Finally, Euro-BioImaging Finland highlighted contributions to SDGs  in the proposal – through green initiatives but also by teaching and capacity building in collaboration with Global BioImaging. In addition, the FiAM team is helping African imaging scientists with image analysis projects. 

What would you recommend to other national communities who are submitting a proposal for funding? 

From Pasi’s perspective, it’s important to include image data analysis & management aspects in funding proposals because funders are very aware that data management infrastructure needs to be reinforced these days. But interdisciplinarity is also extremely important. “You have to demonstrate that you serve a diverse user community. And being multi-sited is also an advantage, because it means we have a broader expertise,” says Irina.

Pasi points out the importance of proper coordination. “It’s really important to develop the working models and solutions together in a coordinated fashion,” says Pasi. “It helps to have dedicated staff who are able to coordinate operations. Over the past 10 years, we’ve created an infrastructure here in Finland, where people are working together across Node and facility boundaries. This grant is a reflection of these fruitful working relationships and that’s why it is such a success story.”

What does it mean to be a “lighthouse” infrastructure? 

To be identified as a “lighthouse” research infrastructure involves a highly competitive process by which Finnish infrastructures have to demonstrate a societal impact that is broader than its own applications. 

Euro-BioImaging Finland looked to its users to prove its impact. ”For over a decade, our users have been doing really impactful science,” says Tiina. “Many of the discoveries made at our facilities have an impact on Finnish healthcare services, and services used in clinical diagnostics. We have also influenced international health care standards.”

Demonstrating collaborative relationships on the national level is an important part of the proposal. “So we highlighted our collaboration with for instance Instruct ERIC and Elixir Finland,” says Irina. 

“And of course, being part of Euro-BioImaging is really significant, and should be highlighted. The connection to the ERIC landscape is extremely important,” says Pasi. 

What will this do for the visibility of imaging in Finland?

Only six infrastructures out of the 21 infrastructures on the national roadmap were designated as “lighthouses.” While it’s hard to know what the real impact of being a Lighthouse will be in the long run, for the moment, it has brought visibility. Euro-BioImaging Finland has been invited to several high-level events and people have reached out to Pasi from other scientific fields. “People are impressed because high-level imaging is becoming so broadly utilized in Finland. It’s a stamp of approval plus networking opportunities… important connections that will be useful for raising visibility with university leadership, and new user communities,” concludes Pasi.