National Doctoral Program of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology
The Graduate School of Bioorganic Chemistry was founded in 1995, when the Ministry of Education introduced the new graduate school program to facilitate the doctoral training in Finnish universities. In the beginning of 2007 the graduate school has transformed into the National Graduate School of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology (GSOCCB). During transformation the school reprofiled itself and expanded towards synthetic organic chemistry. The school is now called National Doctoral Program of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology (OCCB) following current naming conventions.
The aim of OCCB is to organize in Finland an internationally recognized doctoral program of chemical biology that is biased towards organic chemistry. Focus is on the development of new synthetic methods in organic chemistry, development of characterization methods in structural chemistry and development of chemical models for biological reactions and their application in the research methods of cell biology, systems biology, biological applications of nanoscience and drug development. Doctoral program aims to educate researchers who are accustomed to work in interdisciplinary projects and are able to contribute actively to the advance of biosciences through the expertise in organic chemistry. Second objective is to create a contact surface with biotechnology companies and to familiarize PhD students to the companies' ways of action.
University of Turku is the accountable university of the doctoral program. It is also in charge of planning the curriculum for chemical biology part of teaching while Aalto University School of Chemical Technology prepares the curriculum for synthetic organic chemistry. The other participating institutes are Tampere University of Technology, University of Eastern Finland (formerly universities of Joensuu and Kuopio), University of Helsinki, University of Jyväskylä, University of Oulu, and Åbo Akademi University (Turku).