University of Helsinki Translational Medicine Master’s Thesis Guide 2026-2027

The Master’s Programme in Translational Medicine (TRANSMED) at the University of Helsinki is a 120 ECTS, two-year English-language programme in the Faculty of Medicine. Its thesis model is unusually concrete: the 30 ECTS Master’s thesis is an individual experimental research project plus written thesis, carried out in a research group under supervision. This is not a programme where students simply choose a desk-based topic at the end of the degree and start writing independently.

This guide uses current University of Helsinki programme and Faculty of Medicine material verified in August 2026. It is a thesis guide only. Admissions, application dates, eligibility, tuition fees and scholarships are outside the scope.

TRANSMED currently has two study tracks

The programme has two current study tracks:

• Translational Research, oriented toward academic and research careers; and
• Health Industry and Innovations, oriented toward health-industry innovation, business and applied development while still retaining doctoral-study eligibility.

The degree is structured around 30 ECTS of obligatory Foundations in Translational Medicine and at least 65 ECTS of advanced studies. The 30 ECTS Master’s thesis is part of the advanced studies.

TRANSMED is fully English-language for teaching and course completion. Students can include a limited amount of other-language studies in the degree, but the Master’s thesis is always written in English.

Thesis preparation starts from the beginning of the programme

TRANSMED has a 5 ECTS thesis seminar, and every student participates in it from the beginning of the studies. The seminar develops abilities that directly feed into the thesis:

• critical reading of translational research;
• information retrieval;
• data management;
• scientific and public communication;
• academic writing;
• presenting one’s own research; and
• participating in scientific discussion.

This means the thesis is not meant to begin only when the student has finished all other coursework. Topic exploration, research-group awareness and scientific communication skills are built progressively through the programme.

The thesis is 30 ECTS and combines research with writing

Current TRANSMED instructions define the thesis as both experimental research and written work. It is always an individual thesis. The research is carried out in a research group under supervision.

The research can be embedded in a wider project that aims to generate new scientific knowledge. That does not remove the student’s independence requirement. The written thesis must be based on the student’s own work, and materials, analyses or other contributions produced by other people must be clearly identified and acknowledged according to good scientific practice.

A TRANSMED thesis therefore needs a clearly defined research question and a defensible individual contribution even when the student is working inside a large laboratory, clinical research group or multidisciplinary project.

You find the research group; TRANSMED does not assign a fixed thesis topic

The research group and thesis project are agreed between the student and the relevant group leader. Current programme guidance explicitly says thesis topics are not pre-selected by TRANSMED.

This makes research-group selection one of the most important planning decisions. The programme highlights the Meilahti research environment, including Faculty of Medicine groups, Helsinki University Hospital, HiLIFE, FIMM, the Neuroscience Center and related research organisations.

For students in the Health Industry and Innovations track, a commissioned thesis is encouraged. A commission can connect the thesis to an employer organisation, public institute or health-sector enterprise, but the thesis must still remain academically assessable and the student’s independent work must remain clear.

Translational Research and Health Industry prepare for the thesis differently

The two tracks develop different professional contexts around the same 30 ECTS thesis.

In the Translational Research track, the programme includes a 10 ECTS Advanced Research Methods placement in an academic research group. This is directly useful for learning current methodologies and can help students identify a thesis environment.

In Health Industry and Innovations, obligatory traineeships amount to 10 ECTS and are partly or entirely completed outside the University in private or public enterprises or institutes. This track creates a natural pathway toward commissioned thesis work.

These track components are not substitutes for the thesis. They are preparation and research-environment exposure that can make the thesis project more realistic and better scoped.

Before the project starts, sign the supervision agreement

TRANSMED has a strong pre-start requirement. Before starting the thesis project, the student and supervisor or supervisors must complete and sign a supervision agreement.

The agreement must define a clearly bounded project, a tentative timetable, and the practical supervision arrangements. It is accompanied by a research plan. Both the supervision agreement and research plan are approved by the TRANSMED director.

This should be treated as a scientific project contract rather than a formality. At minimum, the student should be able to explain:

• the research question;
• the experimental or analytical approach;
• the expected material or data;
• the student’s own responsibilities;
• the supervisor’s responsibilities;
• the planned timeline;
• the resources and equipment required; and
• how foreseeable ethics or data-protection issues will be handled.

Supervisor requirements and responsibilities

Each student has a responsible supervisor who must hold at least a doctoral degree.

The supervisor and their unit or research group are responsible for ensuring access to the necessary material, tools and equipment. The supervisor must allocate time for scientific guidance and provide feedback on academic writing.

The supervisor does not perform analyses or experimental determinations on behalf of the student. Responsibility for progress rests primarily with the student. If the agreed time limit has elapsed and enough results have been obtained for the thesis, the student must be given the opportunity to stop the research phase and move toward completing the written thesis.

If supervision becomes unavailable in a way that materially delays the project, current instructions require the TRANSMED director to be informed.

Research ethics are part of the thesis design

TRANSMED work often involves biomedical samples, laboratory methods, animal models, clinical material or patient-related data. Current programme instructions therefore explicitly require compliance with:

• good laboratory practice;
• ethical rules governing animal handling;
• rules for patient material;
• applicable research law and regulation; and
• good scientific practice.

Ethics should be resolved during the research-plan stage rather than after data collection. If a project uses another research group’s material, shared datasets or analyses generated by collaborators, attribution and the student’s own contribution must be explicit.

There is no verified universal TRANSMED page-count target

Current TRANSMED instructions define the research process, supervision, structure and assessment in detail, but they do not establish one universal thesis page-count target for 2026-2027.

Do not borrow the 20-40, 30-60 or 40-50-page ranges used in other Helsinki faculties or programmes. Those rules belong to other academic contexts.

TRANSMED instead provides a recommended scientific structure and layout. A typical organisation includes:

1. title page;
2. abstract;
3. table of contents;
4. list of abbreviations;
5. introduction;
6. aims of the study;
7. materials and methods;
8. results;
9. discussion; and
10. references.

Figures and tables are recommended within the Results section. The University thesis template is recommended. Current TRANSMED guidance also recommends common academic formatting such as Arial 11, Times New Roman 12 or Calibri 12, 1.5 line spacing, A4 portrait layout and page numbers.

Treat these as formatting guidance, not a substitute for supervisor-approved scientific structure.

Referencing and scientific attribution

Current public TRANSMED guidance emphasises good scientific practice and correct acknowledgement of other people’s materials and analyses. It does not establish one universal named referencing manual in the verified public evidence used for this guide.

The safest practice is to follow the current TRANSMED/supervisor instructions consistently. Whatever reference system is used, every external result, method, dataset, figure, analytical contribution or source must be traceable and properly acknowledged.

This is particularly important in collaborative biomedical research, where the thesis author may work inside a team that has generated shared data or infrastructure.

Submission uses Sisu and the new E-thesis

Current University instructions require students to register for thesis and maturity-test submission in Sisu before final submission.

The final assessed thesis is then submitted through the new E-thesis system. Once the final version is submitted for assessment, it is no longer editable.

Before final submission, therefore, check:

• title and metadata;
• abstract;
• supervisor information;
• figures and tables;
• references;
• abbreviations;
• ethics and attribution statements;
• confidential information;
• PDF accessibility and rendering; and
• that the uploaded file is the exact version approved for submission by the supervisor.

TRANSMED examiner rules are stricter than many programmes

The responsible supervisor proposes the examiners, but the examiner relationship is deliberately independent.

Current TRANSMED rules require:

• two examiners;
• both examiners to hold a doctoral degree;
• at least one examiner to be a docent or professor; and
• the supervisor to have no recent or ongoing collaboration with the examiners.

This is a meaningful conflict-of-interest boundary. A familiar collaborator should not simply be selected because they know the project well.

Grading uses the current 0-5 matrix

TRANSMED theses are graded on the 0-5 scale. The current assessment matrix applies to theses submitted from 1 January 2025 onward.

A particularly important programme-specific difference is that assessment area 7 is not assessed in TRANSMED under the current Faculty of Medicine framework. Do not copy an assessment model from another Helsinki programme where the supervisor grades a separate thesis-process area.

Examiners must provide a written final statement. If they cannot agree on the grade, the programme director appoints a third examiner. If two of the three agree, that grade controls. If all three disagree, the Faculty applies its current rounding rule and the Dean makes the final decision.

A student who wants the grading suspended must make the request before the Dean’s decision, no later than 12:00 on the preceding day under the current Faculty procedure.

The thesis abstract serves as the maturity test

Under the current Faculty of Medicine framework, the required thesis abstract serves as the maturity test for the second-cycle thesis.

The maturity test:

• is recorded as 0 ECTS;
• is assessed pass/fail;
• demonstrates familiarity with the thesis field; and
• may also carry a language-proficiency function depending on the student’s previous education and maturity-test history.

TRANSMED’s thesis itself is always in English, but maturity-test language obligations can still depend on the student’s Finnish/Swedish secondary-education background and whether the required language proficiency was already demonstrated in an earlier degree.

AI is never allowed in a maturity test. Because the thesis abstract serves as the maturity test, students must follow the current no-AI maturity-test rule for the relevant assessed abstract.

AI use elsewhere in the thesis

The University and Faculty of Medicine support appropriate AI use in learning and thesis work where current teacher, programme and Faculty rules permit it. Students must comply with reporting requirements and remain fully responsible for:

• factual accuracy;
• source verification;
• data interpretation;
• authorship;
• research integrity; and
• the final submitted text.

AI cannot replace scientific judgment, experimental responsibility or proper attribution. Prohibited use or failure to report AI when required can be treated as academic misconduct.

2026-2027 Faculty of Medicine submission schedule

TRANSMED follows the Faculty of Medicine timetable. Current 2026-2027 dates are:

The submission cutoff is 23:59 Finnish time. Theses are not assessed in July, and normal supervision or feedback is not provided in July unless a programme or faculty specifically requires it.

Plan graduation from the Dean decision backward, not only from the upload date.

Publicity and confidential biomedical material

Master’s theses are public academic documents. Current E-thesis and Helda rules control publication and access.

A thesis project can involve sensitive clinical, company or patient-related material, but confidential information must not be placed in the public assessed thesis in a way that violates applicable rules. Resolve confidentiality, intellectual property and publication issues during the supervision-agreement and research-plan stage.

A commissioned thesis does not become private merely because an external organisation is involved.

A practical TRANSMED thesis workflow

1. Use the thesis seminar early. Build critical reading, information retrieval and scientific communication skills from the start of the programme.
2. Identify a research environment. Explore Meilahti, Faculty of Medicine, HUS, HiLIFE, FIMM, Neuroscience Center or an appropriate external health-industry environment.
3. Agree a research question with the group leader. TRANSMED does not assign a fixed topic list.
4. Confirm the responsible supervisor. The supervisor must hold at least a doctoral degree.
5. Write the supervision agreement and research plan before starting. Define scope, timetable, roles, methods, resources and ethics.
6. Obtain TRANSMED director approval. Do not treat the approval as retrospective paperwork.
7. Conduct the experimental work independently within the research group. Record provenance of shared data, analyses and materials.
8. Write around the research question, not a borrowed page count. Use the current scientific structure and supervisor guidance.
9. Check examiner independence early enough. Both examiners need doctorates, at least one must be a docent/professor, and collaboration conflicts must be avoided.
10. Register in Sisu and submit the exact final file in E-thesis. The assessed version is not editable afterward.
11. Ensure the abstract satisfies the maturity-test requirement. AI is prohibited in the maturity test.
12. Leave time for the Faculty assessment round and Dean decision. Use the current timetable.

Final checklist

Before final submission, confirm that:

• the thesis is a 30 ECTS individual TRANSMED project;
• the thesis is written in English;
• the research group and project have been agreed;
• the supervision agreement and research plan were signed and approved before the project started;
• the responsible supervisor holds at least a doctoral degree;
• your independent contribution is clear within any wider research project;
• ethics, patient material, animal work, data protection and research-law requirements are resolved;
• the manuscript follows current TRANSMED scientific structure/layout guidance;
• you have not imported another programme’s page-count rule;
• all external materials and analyses are properly attributed;
• proposed examiners satisfy the qualification and independence rules;
• the current 0-5 assessment matrix is being used and area 7 is not incorrectly added;
• thesis and maturity-test submission are registered correctly in Sisu;
• the final E-thesis PDF is the exact assessed version;
• the abstract satisfies the maturity-test requirement without prohibited AI use; and
• your selected deadline is one of the current Faculty of Medicine 2026-2027 rounds.

Current University, Faculty of Medicine and TRANSMED instructions always take priority if a more specific or newer rule applies to the project.