While EFMC seemed to be a successful trip for some of us, the science and semester kept on going for others. Last week, a new M.Sc. student, Valpuri (photos will follow...), started her thesis project on the MCT1 transporter, where we are trying to figure out the soul landscape of this carrier combined with Ville's modelling (figure below). And perhaps later, if doable, try to design MCT1-utilizing prodrugs.
We have a good representation in the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC) International Symposium (link) that is currently being held in Basel, Switzerland (6-10.9.2026). At least Janne is presenting our latest OATP2B1 results, Ville some MCT1-modelling results, and Arun, I guess, also OATP-related modelling?!? 😍 Anyway, while waiting for better pictures, I will share how good scientists use their free time - going to the Pharmacy Museum, of course! 😂
Good news from this week was that our SMVT-paper was finally accepted for publication! Hip Hurray! This was a long journey, I cannot even remember how many journal is behind... at least 3! But like I have said earlier it is not that the content is not good enough, the journals and their editors are drowning with the submitted manuscript and in that flow it's hard to make your point visible. Well, more about that, once it is out.
Since today is the last weekend of the official summer and the weather is getting colder, I decided to post what I have been harvesting from my garden, well the carrots are still in their garden bed. Also, the nature was generous to us this summer (and not everything is even showing below)! 😎
The semester really had a crowded start, first introduction to the study field (pharmaceutical chemistry) for the 4th year pharmacy students (during my holiday... 😎), so that they can select to which field thay want to specialize, followed by Tiina's birthday celebration, and all these events, I was in so "holiday mood" that I forgot to take any photos... and this week we had FinPharmaNet symposium (link) in Kuopio, and the 20th celebration year! And what make it busy was that I was asked for a presentation just 1 week before (due to the cancellation), but since Hamed was already selected to present OATPs, I was left to build up a new story with Piezo1 agonists. 😅 But that was good, since now I have a clear picture of what Andy's second paper is going to look like! 😍 The next step is to transfer this to Andy's head! Anyway, good 2-day event, unfortunately, the new Director of Biocenter Finland (Katja Kivinen) et al. also wanted to visit Biocenter Kuopio at the same... so to sum up, a busy start!
It is about time, when almost all of us have our summer holidays behind, and hopefully everyone has had a relaxing and enjoyable vacation. At least I had, and one of the greatest moments was Andy's wedding in Paris. It was again a good reminder of how science can also unite cultures, and it was really a privilege to be part of Congolese-French-Finnish wedding traditions. So thank you Andy, for inviting some of us and all the best in the future!
The trip to France also gave an opportunity to extend the holiday a bit, and see all the major attractions and thanks to Janne and Sohvi for their travelling company, we actually travelled all the major train lines to their final tops; North, South, West, and East! 😎 At the end, I also realized and I need to remember this for the upcoming semester; that not everything is as they seem to be. Unfortunately, we tend to judge things and people without better knowledge. For me, I thought that I knew what macarons are, and I must to admit that I have always wondered what all the fuss is about them, but having eaten ones in Paris, I realized that this was really the first time I had had macarons, all the dozens before that have been just cheap copies...
Soon it starts to be the time for most of us to have the summer holidays, unless already started. Before that, we received some great news, since Janne, Ville, Hamed, and Mikko received UEF-travel grants, and Janne also Saastamoinen Foundation grant for the research visit abroad (unfortunately, no press release from made of that, which is pretty unusual behaviour from UEF...). Anyway, congratulations!
We also had a nice gathering and outdoor activities at Puijo, before we all spread around the world for the holidays! Anyway, have a relaxing and enjoyable summer break, and let's get back with fresh ideas and enthusiasm!
This week has been active for many of us. Half of the group was participating in the 50th Anniversary Symposium of Neuroscience (link) in Kuopio Music Centre 15–17 June 2026, focusing on Pathogenesis, Early Diagnosis and Modern Care of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Epilepsy and Stroke. It was nice to meet all the colleagues from the other side of the campus, but also meet new ones and hear the science that we are also involved in, from another perspective. And since such a big event and great speakers were around the corner, it was a great opportunity for us to let "the other corner know" what we are all about. Unfortunately, even these days, it is relatively common that we, "the drug developers" don't really speak the same language with the clinicians and basic researchers or neuroscientists. Therefore, these events are highly important to mix and match!
This week, Hamed also participated at the same time in Gordon Research Conference, Membrane Transporters and the Gateway to Health & Disease (link), in Lucca (Italy) and had a speech in the satellite Gordon Research Seminar, Decoding the Basis of Transmembrane Transport in Health and Disease Across the Kingdoms of Life (link). So job well done, congratulations, Hamed! I look forward to hearing what all you learned and can bring to us!
I recently found myself reading or listening to a book that I would never pick up myself from any shelf; JHT - Mission or Piece of Mind. A famous Finnish (withdrawn already) rap artist's book. I don't listen to his music, never even liked it, but the e-book library suggested this to me, and once I read the introduction, I thought, why not. And I must admit that the book was very good, and why it resonated that much was that, despite his general appearance as a rap artist, he has really given much thought to many things. Most of the insights and realizations he made can be directly translated from his world to the scientific or academic world. The topics were simple, from making mistakes and accepting them; being ambitious, but humble and patient in order to achieve something; to balancing how much hard work is required to be successful, and how many of us are willing to pay that price. I think it is only in Finnish at the moment, but if you can understand, I can highly recommend it as summer holiday reading.
Janne attended this week to the Annual meeting of European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) at the University of Naples in Italy, and he was actually selected one of the speakers, to tell his journey with LAT1. Janne was also earlier selected as a part of the EUFEPS Young Section Committee, whose main purpose is to provide support initiatives aimed at young EUFEPS members (in addition to the support for the main board). So good one, Janne!
We also had a little bit sad week, since 4 our staff members said goodbye and stepped into well-deserved retirement (from left to right, Technician Anne, Pharmaceutical Chemistry Lecturer Pekka, Toxicology Lecturer Risto, and Pharmacology Lecturer Anne). Risto wanted to give us the farewell seminar, telling the story of his career, which was indeed very inspiring. He also showed how science was presented back in the old days; unfortunately, the old projector lamp was not that sharp, but on the tble you may see how the posters were done, cutting and gluing the results to the very large paper. 😂
Although the previous post was all about new people joining our group and some leaving and graduating, I have to continue the topic with this post. Yesterday, we had the farewell coffees for Moritz and Ana, who joined us as ERASMUS students in January. Ana did the synthesis of novel PP2A analogs originally with Santosh and later on Mikko jumped into the supervision - big thanks to both of you for the flexibility! Let's hope we have something to continue with! And Moritz worked mainly with OATP2B1-prodrugs, partly continuing Unna's project, but also doing a lot of everything else for which we are also very thankful and hope that will also soon lead to results that can be read from the publication. 😀
And the summer period has officially started, swallows have arrived!
