2022 – InFLAMES Flagship Blog

Remembering the meaning of human interactions

When I was asked to write a blog with the general concept of “networking”, the first thought was excitement. After all, this year’s Summer was chock-full of InFLAMES events and networking opportunities. Which were met with great success as well I dare say! Before holidays InFLAMES summer get-together in Örö was blessed with great weather and great many wonderful participants, the InFLAMES Doctoral Module came together for the first time ever in August, and the BioCity Symposium had an all-time record of registrations.

Quite soon the original eagerness was replaced with a looming sense of dread. Sure, it’s wonderful that opportunities for people to meet each other in person are coming back after a two-year long grey lull caused by Corona, a name many were much happier associating to beer. However, how can I transform this positive progress into an interesting blog text? What exactly should I focus on?

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networking

Do you think scientists are better than most people at critical thinking? Think again

Visiting Professors Visiting professors

Reijo Salonen and I had an enjoyable and lively session during our talks couple of weeks ago in Turku. His topic, “How to Successfully Fail in Drug Development” sparked a lot of interest!

Drug development is very challenging, and it starts from the beginning of the process. The striking finding is that more than 80% of results for target identification in academic laboratories are not replicated in an industry setting. Once a molecule is ready to go into man, 50% of drug candidates fail in Phase 3 clinical studies. Also, the external environment changes along the way, with competitors appearing, regulations changing, and key advocates leaving the company.

What can be done about it? Reijo discussed several options to improve the chances including using human in vitro data as much as possible, using adaptive clinical trial designs, getting an outside review of your projects and communicating with stakeholders every step of the way.

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Life through a mathematicians’ eye

InFLAMES researchers

Computational biology is an emerging approach to modelling biological systems, from molecules to cells to tissues. Not to be confused with bioinformatics, computational biology uses fundamental knowledge from mathematics, and physics to simulate and manipulate complex processes within biology.

The approach relies initially on experimental data but rapidly expands beyond exploratory research at all length scales. The major benefit is that thousands of simulations may be run to guide experimental design; consequently, reducing research costs and the unnecessary use of animal models.

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The road leading up to a world without cancer

InFLAMES PI

I grew up in a scientific medical environment inspired by my father. As a Medical Advisor in Cardiology, Dermatology, and Oncology, my dad often taught me about the wonderful universe of medical and pharmaceutical sciences when I was only a five-year-old boy. This special father-son relationship tailored my intrinsic passion for science and fostered my character, amazed at the transcending works of the Creator.

In my mid-20s, I graduated in Biological Sciences and five years later, I obtained my Ph.D. in Immunology working on experimental oncology. I was supervised by Prof Luis R. Travassos, a distinguished Brazilian immunologist and mycologist that was previously trained by his good friend Prof Lloyd J. Old, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Prof Old was mentored by the Nobel prize winner, Prof Baruj Benacerraf, and is considered today the father of modern tumor immunology.

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