Keyword: Drug Development and Diagnostics

Academician and Director of InFLAMES Flagship Sirpa Jalkanen and Dr. Markku Jalkanen have been nominated for the European Inventor Award. They are finalists in the Small and medium enterprises category, where they are against two other European teams. They were selected from among more than 550 candidates in a competition organised by the European Patent Office (EPO). The winners of the European Inventor Award 2024 will be announced on 9 July 2024 in Malta.

Researchers at the University of Turku have uncovered how the new bexmarilimab therapy alters the function of immune cells so that they can infiltrate the tumour in cancer patients who do not respond to any other current therapies.

How can a researcher become an entrepreneur, what does the journey require and why should more researchers aim to commercialise their invention? The Corporate Corner event of the InFLAMES Flagship shares stories of how science can become business, told by interesting speakers and companies. The theme for the next Corporate Corner is The Journey of Turning Science into Business, and it will be held on 6 October in Turku.

A new nasal pertussis vaccine against whooping cough has shown promising results. The vaccine was shown to be safe and to work against whooping cough in a study conducted in healthy adults. Professor Qiushui He and Project Researcher Alex-Mikael Barkoff from the InFLAMES research flagship of the University of Turku participated in the study. The research article was published in the esteemed medical journal Lancet.

New discovery on the causes of PAP lung disease can also offer solutions for treating obesity and heart disease. The research group of Associate Professor Alexander Mildner at the University of Turku, Finland, identified a genetic defect that causes the accumulation of lipids in the pulmonary alveoli.  

There are approximately 40 trillion cells in the human body and every one of them needs oxygen to survive. If the oxygen level drops, the cells must be able to sense the change and adapt to it. Sir Peter Ratcliffe discovered how this adaptation occurs. The discovery earned Ratcliffe and his associates the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019. Ratcliffe visited the University of Turku 25 August. 

The theme of this year’s BioCity Symposium, immunology, has sparked great interest. Over 400 people have registered for the Symposium that is organised on 25–26 August. The keynote speaker is Sir Peter Ratcliffe, the Nobel Prize Laureate in medicine 2019.

Does Finland need its own drug development and manufacturing or will Europe take care of us even in the event of a crisis? Is the security of medicine supply guaranteed? These and other topics will be discussed in the InFLAMES panel discussion at the science day of the Turku Europe Forum on 24 August. The panel is organised at the Marina Palace at 11.30am-12.15pm. The discussion will be interpreted into English.