The University decided to allocate the donation of €500,000 to cancer research, one of the focus areas in medical research at the University. Joensuu says that this is a perfect illustration of the model of cooperation currently prevalent in cancer research. According to Joensuu, culturing GIST cells in laboratory conditions has been difficult, and cytological research has in fact been a bottleneck in GIST research. In the GIST laboratory at Biomedicum, cells are cultured in nanocellulose together with a research group headed by Docent Outi Monni. For instance, an annual allocation of €100,000 covers in practice the recruitment of two researchers for a research group.
