Cooperation and openess are the advantages of a small place
Garry Corthals, Head of Proteomics at the Turku Centre for Biotechnology, has come a long way to get here but is pleased with his current work place. The advanced Centre for Biotechnology in Turku offers a good environment for his research. Corthals thinks that the sense of community in the University of Turku is an advantage.
Garry Corthals moved to Turku from Geneva in November 2005. Since then, he has been the head of a research group at the Turku Centre for Biotechnology (CBT) and has an additional post as the Director of the CBT VTT Proteomics Facility; a joint facility of the CBT and the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT).
Before he moved to Turku, Garry Corthals led a research group in the Department of Structural Biology and Bioinformatics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva. He was one of the founders of the department, and also a co-director of the Proteomics Facility of the Faculty of Medicine. So how did he end up in Turku?
- I had never really heard anything about the city of Turku. I visited Turku for to give a seminar and talked to many people during my visit, but I had no intentions of coming here for other reasons than the seminar. A number of different circumstances led me here. I was very impressed by the infrastructure of biosciences here. I understood that the University of Turku, Åbo Akademi University and the city of Turku were all committed to biosciences. And now I know that biosciences are one of the priority areas at both universities. I found out later that they were looking for someone to work here. I tried to help them find someone and never thought it could be me. So, why Finland? Why not, Garry says.
Cooperation and openness are the advantages of a small place
Garry has worked at various places and in various environments. He completed his university degree in Delft, Holland, and his PhD at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Before he moved back to Europe, Garry did post-doctoral work in Seattle and led a research group at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney.
- Working at different universities and in different environments has taught me that I really can’t compare them with each other; it’s not useful to do so. I am of course not sure why, but here the co-operation between the society, the universities, the research centres and Turku BioValley, and the city of Turku works well. These institutions have realized, and practice, that co-operation positively influences each others objectives. It might derive from the fact that this is a small country with limited resources and that puts pressure on people to work together, Garry says.
At the time of this interview, in late spring, Garry had, in addition to his work place and the university, seen only the wintry side of the town. The icy riverside of Aurajoki does not attract Finns, but Garry has enjoyed its proximity.
- Turku is a wonderful place to live though, and there is still so much to explore here. Being a foreigner in this city is not a problem. One thing I have noticed about how the society works here is that it is very open and welcoming in both scientific and social contacts. There is something that glows inside people in Turku. One of my favorite places is Restaurant Blanko by the riverside. I love their coffee and food, Garry smiles.
Caption: Garry emphasises that openness and broadmindedness are the most important features when you move abroad.
Text: Jani Sipilä
Photo: Vesa-Matti Väärä