Leaders
Group description
The current treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, is mainly symptomatic. However, the neuronal death progresses and leads to more severe symptoms where current medications are powerless. Therefore, UEF Neurodegeneration lab has strong focus on developing a disease-modifying therapy to stop or delay the disease progression.
There are several common toxic mechanisms among neurodegenerative diseases. Our aim is to find and identify drug targets that can be used to multitarget on several toxic mechanisms via one target. One such target is PREP enzyme that we have studied over a decade, and by using PREP inhibitors, we have gained excellent results in the models of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, and in multiple system atrophy (MSA). Our most recent focus is the most common neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition to pharmacological research (compound testing on different disease models), we collaborate actively with experts on medicinal chemisry (Dr. Erik Wallén), molecular modelling (Dr. Maija Lahtela-Kakkonen, Dr. Katarzyna Walczewska-Szewc) and protein structural studies (Prof. Juha Rouvinen/Janne Jänis).
News
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Grant from Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation!Grant from Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation!
UEF Neurodegeneration PI, Prof. Timo Myöhänen, received a grant from Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg foundation! -
Follow our activities in TwitterFollow our activities in Twitter
You can follow the activities of UEF Neurodegeneration at Twitter! -
Major publication in Science Translational Medicine!Major publication in Science Translational Medicine!
UEF Neurodegeneration got major manuscript published in Science Translational Medicine! In this manuscript, we showed that PREP inhibition has… -
Great paper out in Journal of Medicinal ChemistryGreat paper out in Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
UEF Neurodegeneration and PREP lab in University of Helsinki found completely novel PREP inhibitors that have disease-modifying effect on Parkinson's…
Cooperation
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Uppsala University, Sweden
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Harvard University, USA
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The University of Antwerp, Belgium
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Aarhus University, Denmark
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National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, USA
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Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, University of Helsinki
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Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland
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Molecular Genetics of Alzheimer's Disease 01.01.2022 - -
Kaarniranta AMD Lab 01.01.2004 - -
Ocular Drug Delivery group (ODD) 01.01.2010 - -
Transporter-Targeted Drug Delivery 01.09.2012 - -
Biomedical MRI 01.01.1995 - -
Bioorganic Chemistry 01.01.2010 - -
Sirtuin Research Group 01.01.2012 - -
NPH and Early AD 01.01.2010 - -
Neurobiology of Memory 12.11.2022 - -
Neuropharmacology and Drug Targets Consortium (NDTC) 01.01.2022 -
Keywords
Leaders
Professors
Post-doctoral Researchers
Technicians
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Jaana Leskinen
Laboratory TechnicianFaculty of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy -
Satu Marttila
Laboratory AssistantFaculty of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy
Other group members
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M.Sc. Henri Pätsi (Helsinki)
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Dr. Erik Wallén (Helsinki)
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Dr. Rui Yang