Merry Christmas and Very Happy New Year!

Again, one successful year behind us! I'm very grateful for all our group members and collaborators for all the hard work! There have been ups but also downs, and to be able to celebrate the real successes, one also needs to fail. The best part of failing is that one can learn and grow. And alongside, also mentor for the others not to repeat the same mistakes. Although we learn every single day when we do science, that's the heart of it, there is still so much space for growth. As we discussed in our this year's last group meeting, there are a lot of great aims and things to be achieved for the next year. So I'm curiously waiting for the next year, can it even be better than the current one? We will see... Before that, I wish a very merry Christmas and a relaxing holiday break for everyone. And above all, have a very happy and successful new year!

Hamed designed a chemistry christmas tree to cheer us up! It was very lovely! Also, big thanks for all the great gifts that I have received, I think we have already eaten half of those that managed to get to this photo... 😄 Nevertheless, I'm not sure if I was all that worth it... 

Congratulations for Janne & Arun!

This week, we received great news when Janne and Arun were awarded UEF postdoctoral positions for the next 2 years. The competition was tough; there were 36 applications, 11 were interviewed, and only 6 applicants got the position in our Faculty of Health Sciences. So congratulations on both! As I'm being lazy now, I will post the text from LinkeIn:

Janne Tampio studies prodrugs that utilize transporters to enhance drug targeting, working with Assoc. Prof. Kristiina Huttunen. In his postdoctoral research, he focuses on organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATPs) for cell-type-specific brain drug delivery. His main scientific interests include in vitro models and mass spectrometry. Over the coming years, his main aim is to translate results from mouse models to the human context, in collaboration with Prof. Annakaisa Haapasalo. Furthermore, bioanalytical methods applied with Assoc. Prof. Marko Lehtonen and international partners will reveal transporter expression profiles and highlight the benefits of targeted drug delivery.

Arun Tonduru is developing automated workflows that integrate molecular dynamics (MD) into virtual screening to boost hit rates in drug discovery. This work is carried out in collaboration with Prof. Antti Poso and Orion Pharma. Alongside this, he continues his research on OATP transporters, focusing particularly on OATP1B1 and OATP2B1. For OATP1B1, his goals include investigating drug–drug interactions that arise from transporter inhibition and identifying structural determinants of inhibition by peptides — in collaboration with Assoc. Prof. Kristiina Huttunen and Dr. Carolina Säll (Novo Nordisk). Another major aim is to predict how OATP1B1 mutations affect the transport of substrates and inhibitors, in collaboration with Prof. Tetsuya Terasaki and Keio University, Japan. 

Congratulation Jussi!

Finally, Jussi made it and successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis, which was carried out during the years 2014-2019. What then happened, well, we call it life! 😍Jussi was the first to start his Ph.D. in this group, but not the first to graduate, but who cares, he has had a great career in our University Hospital Pharmacy, after 2019. And most importantly, the work he did during his Ph.D. has paved the way, at least 5 other doctoral candidates who managed to graduate before him, and there are still many Ph.D. works coming out afterwards. So congratulations, Jussi! And big thanks for Prof. Tapani Viitala, for the great day!