Kari Kustaa Alitalo is a Finnish biologist and medical researcher. He is a professor of the Finnish Academy of Sciences. He became famous for his discoveries of several receptor tyrosine kinase

Receptor tyrosine kinase

Receptor tyrosine kinases s are the high-affinity cell surface receptors for many polypeptide growth factors, cytokines, and hormones. Of the 90 unique tyrosine kinase genes identified in the human genome, 58 encode receptor tyrosine kinase proteins....

s (RTKs) and the first growth factor capable to induce lymphangiogenesis

Lymphangiogenesis

Lymphangiogenesis is the formation of lymphatic vessels from pre-existing lymphatic vessels, in a method believed to be similar to blood vessel development or angiogenesis....

: vascular endothelial growth factor C

Vascular endothelial growth factor C

Vascular endothelial growth factor C is a VEGF. The human gene encoding it is VEGFC.-Pathological VEGF-C Expression:Lymphedema is caused by an imbalance between lymphatic vessel formation and absorption...

 (VEGF-C). In the years 1996-2007 he was Europe's second most cited author in the field of cell biology

Cell biology

Cell biology is a scientific discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level...

.

Alitalo received the Leopold Griffuel Prize

Leopold Griffuel Prize

The Leopold Griffuel Prize is sponsored by the French Association for Cancer Research ....

 in 2003 and the 2006 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine

Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine

The Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine is awarded annually by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation to biomedical researchers in Europe; the awards are made each April...

.
He also received the 2005 Eric Fernström Foundation's Nordic Prize

Fernström Prize

The Fernström Prize is a series of annual awards for prominent Swedish and Nordic scientists in medicine. The prize money is donated by the Eric K. Fernström' Foundation...

 and the 2009 In-Bev Baillet Latour Health Prize.

External links

• Personal webpage, University of Helsinki
  University of Helsinki
  The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...