Tapani Viitala

Prof. Tapani Viitala (PI) received his PhD in 1999 from the Department of Physical Chemistry at Åbo Akademi University. After this, he worked for 10 years at KSV Instruments Ltd/Biolin Scientific Oy, a company providing high-tech, precision analytical instruments for nanoscale study of interfaces. He returned to academia in January 2010 as a senior researcher at University of Helsinki and held an Academy Research Fellow position between August 2010 – July 2015. In 2017 he was appointed as Docent of Pharmaceutical Surface Chemistry and Biophysics at Åbo Akademi University, and in 2020 as Docent of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology at University of Helsinki. On 1.9.2021 he was appointed as a professor in Novel Drug Formulations, which is a shared position between Åbo Akademi University (50%) and University of Helsinki (50%). He has over thirty years of experience in experimental studies of surfaces, interfaces, nanoscale layers and particle materials in close connection to material science, biophysics, nanotechnology and life sciences. His current research focus on utilizing model surfaces, living cells, nanoscience and –technology, and various physico-chemical real-time and/or label-free characterization techniques and well-established tools in life sciences to improve the mechanistic understanding of drug and nanoparticle action and delivery. He has published >115 internationally peer-reviewed articles, 9 non-refereed scientific articles and conference proceedings, co-authored 5 invention disclosures and 3 patents, and supervised 9 PhD theses and 40 Master´s theses.