Research of the clinical pharmaceutical chemistry focuses mostly on understanding deep medical phenomena inside the human body using complex chemistry, and development of individualized targeted therapies utilizing established treatments modulated with new linkers and components to decrease toxicity and improve efficacy.
Overview
Core fields of research
Basic natural phenomena and mathematical thinking
Research areas
Chemical Nanoscience
Faculty
Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Department
Department of Chemistry
Research group description
As according to the principles of clinical pharmaceutical chemistry, in our view of medical phenomena, the human body is seen as the reaction vessel and molecular transformations are used to interpret disease mechanisms and progression via chemical reactions. Chemical reactions between functional groups, atoms and molecules offer the deepest achievable level of examining human body functions and are thus superior in interpreting any clinically seen changes or transformations in patients.
The therapy areas which we mostly work in are oncology (solid tumours), hemato-oncology (hematologic malignancies), HIV, Hepatitis C, and addiction medicine.
To complement our strong clinical and translational research, we also investigate
psychosocial support methods and resources of cancer patients and
digital tools to improve patient monitoring and involvement in clinical trials, and equal care regardless of geographic distances.
In addition, our group uses the wide capabilities of Finnish data lakes, electronic structural health records and the Finnish Biobank Network samples to conduct complex retrospective clinical and biomarker studies that can even replace slowly evolving prospective studies.
We currently run both public and pharmaceutical industry funded research projects, as well as jointly funded projects (academia + industry).
Ongoing projects of the Clinical Pharmaceutical Chemistry group
1. Repurposing bioactive compounds for adjuvant and maintenance treatment of metastatic or high risk breast cancer
2. Subcutaneously injectable and non-toxic nanostarch particles for controlled and sustained drug delivery: Lung cancer, HIV (in collaboration with pharma) & Hepatitis C
3. Photoactivated, biobased nanomatrix for localized treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma
4. Bone-targeted delivery of cytotoxic compounds – destruction of myeloma stem cells in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (pre-required final tests before Phase I)
5. The Efficacy and Safety of Brain-targeting Immune Cells (EGFRvIII-CAR T Cells) in Treating Patients With Leptomeningeal Disease From Glioblastoma Multiforme (biomarker analyses from ongoing Phase I)
6. Long-acting starch nanoparticle drug delivery system to treat chronic HIV(biomarker analyses from ongoing Phase I)
1. EHFF – Eliminate Hepatitis C From Finland by 2030
2. FINBCC – Prospective collection and analyses of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and cell-cycle regulation markers (CCRs) and their influence on the prognosis and treatment selection in breast, lung and bladder cancer
3. Clinically relevant biomarkers for optimizing the treatment of HR+ breast cancer– Prevalence of low HER2 expressing tumours, clinical outcomes, and machine learning -assisted pathology in a Finnish patient cohort
4. Bring the patient in focus: Psychosocial support and quality of life measurements as part of standard clinical practice
5. Long-acting OAT (opioid agonist treatment) formulation and treatment digitalisation effect on patients’ treatment initiation and rehabilitation – is a conservative vs a patient-centred approach more effective?
6. Digital tools to improve patient care, monitoring, involvement and decentralized clinical trials
