New Metformin Publication Out!

Just as our summer holidays began, we were able to push one of our latest findings with metformin derivatives out. This paper entitled "Optimizing the structure of repurposed metformin can improve anti-cholinesterase and anti-amyloidogenic effects (link)" was recently published in European Journal of Pharmacology and it revealed the potential inhibitory activity of our metformin sulfonamide derivatives against butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) over acetylcholinesterase (AChE), enzymes that play roles in the progression of the Alzheimer's disease. This was again a collaborative project with our Polish friend Magdalena, and this time it also involved computational modelling to estimate the interactions of the compounds with AChE, done by Tuomo. Anyway, the compounds had synergistic effects with the clinically used AChE inhibitor, donepezil, and they inhibited beta-amyloid (Aβ) aggregation at both early and late stages, proving that metformin derivatives could serve as a dual-action therapy for AD.

Andy on fire!

During the summer, there are a lot of interesting conferences going on around the world, and like previous years, we have spread to different events according to our own wishes. Andy went alone this summer to the 59th International Conference on Medicinal Chemistry (RICT 2025) in Orléans, France, on July 2-4, 2025, and presented his results of Piezo1 agonists and their prodrugs on a poster. And to our surprise, he won the poster prize!!! And I'm only saying that it was a surprise, since usually these prizes go either to organizers' students or their close friends' students, not because I didn't that our posters are not good enough! Of course, they always are the best quality (excluding the ever-changing fabric source...)! Well done, Andy! We are very proud of you!

EACPT Congress in Helsinki

Just before the holidays, Janne and I were able to attend the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT2025) "Embracing Innovations for Optimized Patient Care" meeting in Helsinki, 28.6-1.7.25. This was the first time to meet and greet the clinicians, but I must admit that I was positively surprised by how broad a range of topics the conference covered and how well they met the preclinical scientists' points of view. So I can highly recommend this conference, particularly to early-stage researchers as well as those heading to develop something for clinical use. Even though we were too modest to submit the abstracts (we should have done it!), our work, i.e., Arun's OATP modelling was presented by Carolina Säll from NovoNordisk. Perhaps, more about that collaboration later on. I was also amazed at the conference dinner, that right after the dissert, almost all the participants basically ran for the dance floor, which left me thinking if the clinicians are a bit more hilarious people than basic researchers...?!? 😂

Anyway, well-spent days (also from the family point of view!), a lot of crucial networking and discussions, and hopefully something new arising from this event, again!