Prof. Ari Koskinen

Professor Ari M. P. Koskinen was born in 1956 in Finland. He received his M.Sc. (Chem. Eng.) in 1979 (with professor T. Hase, development of the synthesis of alkyl tert-alkyl ethers for anti-knock agents), Licentiate in Technology in 1982 and Doctor of Technology in 1983 (with professor M. Lounasmaa, methodology development on the modified Polonovski reaction for indole alkaloid synthesis), all at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. After postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley (professor Henry Rapoport 1983-85 and 1987-88, total synthesis of anatoxin-a, and conformationally constrained peptidomimetics) he accepted an appointment as a Project Leader in New Drug Development at Orion Corporation – Fermion, Finland (1985-1987). His research group was among the first in Scandinavia to adopt computer aided drug design (QSAR and CoMFA) as well as computerized database management protocols in new lead identification. Returning to the Academia, he joined the University of Surrey, England, as a lecturer in 1989. He was appointed as Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oulu, Finland in 1992, and transferred to his current position at the Helsinki University of Technology in 1999 (Aalto University since 2010) as Professor of Organic Chemistry. Prof. Koskinen is a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters since 2003. He is the author or co-author of some 190 publications, 16 patents and two books.