People

We are a dynamic group of researchers with a strong focus on finding novel disease modifying therapies for neurodegerative diseases.

Moreover, in today's science nobody works alone and we collaborate actively with other experts on an international and domestic level.

Timo Myöhänen

Principal investigator

Dr. Timo is the PI of the PREP research team. He did already his M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses on PREP (in the University of Kuopio), so Timo has strong background on PREP research. Post doc periods in Helsinki, Belgium and USA teached Timo how to use different preclinical models of neurodegenerative diseases from protein level to animal models. His passion is to find a disease-modifying drug for currently unstoppable neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

See Timo's profile on university's research portal

Erik Wallén

Docent, senior researcher

Dr. Erik Wallen is the leader of PREP lab Medicinal Chemistry, and has 20 years experience on different medicinal chemistry projects. Erik was also involved with earlier PREP inhibitor development in University of Kuopio, so he really knows what PREP and PREP inhibitor compounds are about.

See Erik's profile on university's research portal

Henri Pätsi

PhD student

M.Sc. Henri Pätsi is the most recent PhD student in PREP lab. He already made his M.Sc. thesis in PREP lab at the beginning of 2018 and has worked as a research assistant after that prior to starting his PhD journey. Henri's project is to find novel PREP inhibitor structures.

Collaborators

Domestic collaborations

Dr. Maija Lahtela-Kakkonen
School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland

Prof. Kai Kaarniranta
School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland

Prof. Jukka Westermarck
Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku

Prof. Arto Urtti
Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, University of Helsinki

Prof. Dan Lindholm
Department of Biochemistry and Developmental Biology, University of Helsinki

International collaboration

Dr. Stephen Haggarty
Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, USA

Dr. Anna Erlandsson
Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden

Prof. Kathleen Maguire-Zeiss
Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC, USA

Dr. Brandon Harvey
National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), Baltimore, USA

Prof.emer. Anne-Marie Lambeir
Laboratory of Biochemical Medicine, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Prof. Poul Henning Jensen
Institute for Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Denmark

Dr. Katarzyna Walczewska-Szewc
Nicolas Copernicus University Torun, Poland

Dr. Roland Hellinger
Medical University Vienna, Austria

 

Alumni members

We have been lucky to have several exceptional people in our lab:

Dr. Tony Eteläinen 2019-2023 - PhD student, now as a Medical Service Specialist at Biocodex.

Dr. Johanna Uhari-Väänänen 2019-2022 - Post-doctoral researcher, now as a senior scientist at Charles River.

M.Sc. Samuli Auno 2020-2021 - Commercial Champion in NeuroPREP project.

Dr. Tommi Kilpeläinen 2016-2021- PhD student and a post-doctoral researcher, now as a Medical Advisor at Bayer.

Dr. Francesca de Lorenzo 2020-2021 - Post-doctoral researcher

Dr. Mikael Jumppanen 2020-2021 - Post-doctoral researcher, now as a Technology Manager at Medix Biochemica

Dr. Hengjing Cui 2019-2020 - Post-doctoral researcher, now a post doctoral researcher in University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio.

Dr. Ulrika Julku 2014-2020 - PhD student and a post-doctoral researcher, now as a Senior Researcher at Neurotar, Helsinki.

Susanna Norrbacka 2014-2020 - lab technican, now as a lab analyst in VTT, Finland.

Dr. Reinis Svarcbahs 2013-2019 - PhD student and a post-doctoral researcher, now as a research associate at National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), Baltimore, MD; USA

Dr. Maria Jäntti 2017-2019 - now as a Senior R&D Specialist at LS Cancer Diag, Helsinki

Dr. Teppo Leino 1-9/2018 - now as a post-doctoral researcher in Department of Chemistry, University of Jyväskylä

M.Sc. Christina Mechtler, Medical University Vienna, ERASMUS internship 2020-2021

M.Sc. Freke Mertens, University of Antwerp, ERASMUS internship 2020

M.Sc. Emmi Anttila, M.Sc. student, 2020

M.Sc. Charlotte Schilling, LMU Munich, ERASMUS internship 2020

Research assistant Veera Kulmala, 6-8/2020

Research assistant Titvi Räisänen, 6-8/2019

Research assistant Kalle Manninen, 6-8/2018

M.Sc. Lydia Zouzoula, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, ERASMUS internship 1-5/2019

M.Sc. Anna Kalinina, State University of Moscow, Exchange student 1-6/2018

M.Sc. Tiina Huovila, M.Sc. student 11/2016-4/2017

M.Sc. Marta Chavero, University of Barcelona, ERASMUS internship 8-12/2017

Dr. Mari Savolainen, PhD student and post doctoral researcher, 2/2011-9/2016. Now as a Medical Manager in Novartis.

M.Sc. Sigrid De Lepeleire, University of Antwerp, Belgium, ERASMUS internship 2-6/2016

M.Sc. Saija Tiilikainen, M.Sc. student and lab technician 12/2014-8/2015

B.Sc. Patrycja Pabis, Jagellonian University, Krakow, Poland – ERASMUS internship 1/2015-5/2015, and PhD student 1/2017-9/2017.

M.Sc. Ilari Korhonen – a research assistant 6-8/2014

M.Sc. Najda Selak, University of Zagreb, Croatia – ERASMUS internship 1/2014-5/2014

M.Sc. Sauli Pätsi – Pro Gradu project 1/2012-6/2012

M.Sc Lana Dokleja, University of Zagreb, Croatia – ERASMUS internship and technical assistant 1/2011-8/2011