@Westermarcklab

Cancer diagnostics company | Thestra We are a cancer diagnostics company which translates high quality academic research results to patient specific companion diagnostics and therapy stratification solutions.

The beautiful image was taken by senior scientist Mari Peltola as part of Thestra´s R&D process to introduce the EPLINEx (the trade name for proprietary LIMA1 assay) IHC assay for clinical #HNSCC diagnostics.
Stay tuned: thestra.fi

We are on the cover! Or what is in the cover is way more important than we, it's evidence that simple IHC assay could be used for recognising #HNSCC patients based on their outcome after surgery-only therapy.
The actual cover and the article can be found here:
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Scientific background of Thestra´s EPLINEx™ method in HNSCC diagnosis reported in EMBO Molecular Medicine  | Thestra Scientific background of Thestra´s EPLINEx™ method is reported in EMBO Molecular Medicine, a leading medical journal.  The findings were validated across all Finnish university hospitals on the use of...

The results are currently to be turned to a routine IHC diagnostic assay by our Start-up company Thestra Ltd. and we aim to bring the assay to clinical use by 2026.
Stay tuned!
thestra.fi/scientific-b...

Based on two prospective cohorts, none of the LIMA1-alpha negative HNSCC patients with non-metastatic disease upon diagnosis died during the follow-up.

New diagnostic breakthrough predicts which head and neck cancer patients can be cured with surgery alone Researchers developed a diagnostic test based on the LIMA1-alpha protein to distinguish patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who can be cured with surgery alone, without the need for

Particularly proud of this collaboration with Sami Ventela and all Finnish #HNSCC clinics revealing LIMA1-alpha as translatable biomarker for selection of HNSCC patients for surgery-only therapies.
www.utu.fi/en/news/pres...
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Emerging roles of the cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (CIP2A) in ovarian cancer Scientific Reports - Emerging roles of the cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (CIP2A) in ovarian cancer

Very nice bioinformatics analysis of the role of #CIP2A in ovarian cancer by @karteris.bsky.social
rdcu.be/exid3

Ps. Some PIs can brag about their 1 million € sequencers, I only got a 100€ sticker printer😅

Lab cleaning day is one of the important @westermarcklab.bsky.social traditions. This year the after-cleaning pizzas were enjoyed in sunny Kupittaa park. Thanks Tiina for organization and everyone for your efforts

Are you looking to start your #lab in a fantastic scientific 🧪environment, with great colleagues, and in a spectacular place to live?

Then check out our open #junior #faculty position at the Department of Oncology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland:
www.unil.ch/dof/en/home/...

⏰ Deadline 27 June

We’ve just marked a major milestone - our community of cancer researchers now numbers 14 000 members, working across 117 countries worldwide 🎉

Thank you to you, our members, for your ongoing support and commitment to advancing cancer research. Your passion and dedication inspire everything we do.

Fantastic EACR @helloeacr.bsky.social annual congress in Lisbon. Great talks Great atmosphere Great to meet all old and new friends

Lukijoilta | Tohtorintutkinto tulisi ottaa OKM:n ylimmän johdon pätevyysvaatimukseksi OKM:n kansliapäällikön pätevyysvaatimusten korottaminen siten, että tiedepolitiikkaamme johdettaisiin vähintäänkin tohtoritutkinnon antaman tutkimuskokemuksen tuella, olisi mielipidekirjoittajien muka...

Lukijoilta | Tohtorintutkinto tulisi ottaa OKM:n ylimmän johdon pätevyysvaatimukseksi www.ts.fi/lukijoilta/6...

Absolutely catapulting quadrable WEKK (Westermarck, Elenius, Kurppa, Kauko) retreat @Villa Wolax. Fantastic science, discussions, sauna, food, wine, colleagues @turkubioscience.bsky.social @medicity.bsky.social

Stunning work! Huge Congrats @kusterlab.bsky.social

Professorship (5 years) - Sigrid Jusélius Foundation With the overall aim of supporting Finnish medical research to combat diseases that are devastating to humankind, the Sigrid Jusélius […]

Want to relocate to Finland as a professor in the fields of basic, clinical, or translational medicine. An exciting funding opportunity. Please be on contact if I can be of any help.
www.sigridjuselius.fi/en/apurahat/...

Early-stage, curiosity-driven cancer research is the cornerstone of future medical breakthroughs. Let's #KeepResearchCurious ✨

Thanks Guillaume for your very valuable contribution.

The work involves very important contributions from several collaborating laboratories of Saverio Minucci, Andrea Mattevi, Matti Nykter, guillaume Jacquemet, Otto Kauko, Tiziana Bonaldi and others. You can also listen the main conclusions: sciencecast.org/casts/51duqt...

The results both solve the longstanding enigma how LSD1 can function in gene activation in non-hormonal cancers but more generally demonstratehow a single phosphorylation site in a non-histone protein can control epigenetic landscape and thereby shape even tumour immune microenvironment.

New preprint from us.
The study led by Mukund Sharma demonstrates how #PP2A mediated dephosphorylation of serine 166 of LSD1 functions as a phosphorylation switch between gene repression and activation by LSD1 and how this shapes tumor microenvironment.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Very exciting program for the next year @helloeacr.bsky.social "Signaling Circuits in Cancer" virtual meeting just published.

Scientific programme | Signalling Circuits in Cancer | The European Association for Cancer Research url:https://eacr.org/conference/signallingcircuits2026/sc

Kohde Pharma Oy Secures Investment from Finnish Drug Discovery Center Ltd - Finnish Drug Discovery Center Vantaa, Finland – May 8th 2025 – Kohde Pharma Oy, a newly incorporated pharmaceutical company in Finland, is pleased to announce that it has secured its first investment from Finnish Drug Discovery Ce...

Very important milestone for Finnish academic drug development. The recently established Finnish Drug Development Center has started its first drug development project in collaboration with a start-up Kohde Pharma. ddcenter.fi/kohde-pharma...

Great news for European science

Always great to see @westermarcklab.bsky.social alumni. This time very heartwarming breakfast with Melissa Junttila at #AACR2025

A new model figure why #CIP2A is such a potent therapy target for #TNBC and other homologous recombination deficient cancers. Two punch effect by hitting one protein; both DNA repair and #PP2A regulated oncogenicity/proliferation inhibited by CIP2A inhibition.

Still possible to register and submit your abstract for the best cancer meeting for 2025!

Running a lab involves lots of maintenance and technical development. We started this year to have bi-weekly Laboratory development meetings for this purpose. Very useful experience so far, Thanks everyone for your efforts🙏

Oh boy, #PP2A again contaminating #phosphatase research. First it was physiological PP2A binding that explained the S/T PPase activity of Eye, now it is a real contamination of PHLPP1/2 protein preps. Important work that forces to entirely rethink the past literature on PHLPPs.

New #PP2A research tools in @addgene.bsky.social by us. PME-1 lentivirus overexpression vectors for wild type and methylesterase and PP2Ac binding mutants www.addgene.org/browse/artic... Please check also our entire collection including various CIP2A tools. Enjoy www.addgene.org/Jukka_Wester...