Cleaning day and pizza!

Every once in a while we need to clean up our freezer. Although many of the samples we collect are extremely valuable, but so is their storage, since all the biological material should be stored at -80 C degrees. And opening the freezers regularly creates also a lot of ice and snow. At the end, there is so much ice and snow that it is hard to even close the doors! So today, we had the cleaning day, and we melted one deep freezer. A lot of samples that we thought we didn't need anymore were also discharged and the ones we decided to keep, were organized more effectively. These days are tough, but in the end, we were pretty happy about the created new space for new future samples! And to keep everyone happy, we also decided to order some pizza! :)

So well done team, and thank you for your effort!

Thank you Aki for your contribution!

This week one of the Master Thesis projects was finalized. Aki Hartikainen started his project of "Design and Synthesis of Novel Brain-Targeted Proteinphoshatase 2A (PP2A) Activators" approximately 1 year ago and this week he left his final thesis under evaluation. Aki did a very great job in the lab and managed to synthesis 3 new PP2A-derivatives and the most challenging part was that we had the COVID-19 lockdown during this project. Luckily Aki just finalized the third compound's purification on the 15th of March, 2020, the day before we started the lockdown. It was a bit hectic day... But then afterward he was able to write up both, the experimental part and also the literature review and had a summer job in the Pharmacy between these write-ups. :) 

This week Aki had also his seminar presentation and maturation exam, and both went well! And the best part of this project is that a new M.Sc. student will continue to evaluate the brain-targeting properties of these compounds in December. So well streamlined, although with a long run, this may sound a bit slow project, but then again, when M.Sc. thesis we need to give time for the students to grow into the project!

Thank you Aki for your contribution to our group and particularly in this project! 

Prof. Terasaki has arrived to Kuopio

We have a very great pleasure to host Prof. Tetsuya Terasaki from Tohoku University (Japan) for the next 1-2 years! Originally, Prof. Arto Urtti and Prof. Seppo Auriola invited Prof. Terasaki to Kuopio to upgrade our know-how and skills in LC-MS/MS proteomics (liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry), since he retired from the Tohoku University in March 2020. Of course, like with all things, COVID-19 complicated the visit a bit, but now he is here, and we cannot wait to start working with you, Tetsuya!  

Prof. Terasaki is a world-class expert in pharmacokinetics and drug transport, particularly across the blood-brain barrier but also targeted absolute proteomics and protein network related to drug sensitivity and resistance (pharmacoproteomics). He has developed a highly sensitive and simultaneous quantification method for multiple proteins, which is functionally important. The principle of the quantification is to determine and quantify the trypsin digested peptide fragments of each target protein by LC-MS/MS. To select the right peptides, he has developed an in silico selection criteria for the peptide fragments for quantification among the trypsin-digested peptide fragments derived from target proteins. Moreover, the presently developed method has enabled his group to quantify the plasma membrane proteins, such as transporters, enzymes, receptors, and channels, which was not possible to be quantified by the previous methods to date. 

So warm welcome to Prof. Tetsuya Terasaki!

       Figure source: https://sciex.com/Documents/newsletters/massSpec/eMagazine_Nov_Korea_D5.pdf