BioCity Turku is an umbrella organization supporting and coordinating research on life sciences and molecular medicine in University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University. BioCity Turku research programs strengthen the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research collaboration within the Turku campus. BioCity Turku asks for proposals for new research programs for 2022-2026.
A research group at the University of Turku, Finland, has discovered a completely new mechanism that cells use to circulate integrins on the cell surface. Aggressive breast cancer cells exploit this mechanism to spread and metastasise to other parts of the body.
The annual BioCity Symposium is in August 19th–20th with the title Cancer – Breaking Bad. This series of meetings organized since 1991 has become the most important annual get-together in the fields of biosciences and molecular medicine in Turku. The symposium gathers together hundreds of participants each year and offers talks from cutting-edge international researchers.
SORLA is a protein trafficking receptor that has been mainly studied in neurons, but it also plays a role in cancer cells. Professor Johanna Ivaska’s research group at Turku Bioscience observed that SORLA functionally contributes to the most reported therapy-resistant mechanism by which the cell-surface receptor HER3 counteracts HER2 targeting therapy in HER2-positive cancers. Removing SORLA from cancer cells sensitised anti-HER2 resistant breast cancer brain metastasis to targeted therapy.
Cellular optogenetics is a technique that allows researchers to use light to precisely control cell signaling and function in space and time enabling the investigation of mechanisms involved in disease processes. A research team at the Turku Bioscience Centre of the University of Turku have developed a novel way to make cellular optogenetic tools much easier to monitor and apply, and showed how they can be used to investigate the cellular side effects of medicines used to treat cancer.
A recent study from Finland reports that a protein kinase called LRRK2 is hyperactive in skin samples from Parkinson’s disease patients which leads to a decrease in protein synthesis. This new finding could help in the development of new treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
The University of Turku has entered into a licensing agreement with an international pharma company related to targeting of CIP2A oncoprotein.
Despite of continuous development in breast cancer treatments, metastases of the most aggressive breast cancer types are still a significant and growing medical problem. Together with a research group at Michigan University, the group of Professor Jukka Westermarck at Turku Bioscience Centre recently received funding from the US Department of Defense for the development of novel treatment strategies for breast cancer metastases.
New study from Eleanor Coffey’s lab at Turku Bioscience Centre in Finland identifies that the JNK protein triggers nerve cells to withdraw their synapses when stressed.
The 2021 International European Light Microscopy Initiative (ELMI) conference has been decided to be organised in Turku. The conference welcomes research centres providing light microscopy services and equipment, as well as companies in the field from Europe and elsewhere around the world to Turku.