2012 © Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM
Translational Research and Personalized Medicine
With the development of targeted therapies, identifying the right patient for the right drug will become an essential part of clinical practice. The treatment decision, however, may not be clear and additional molecular information could provide better guidance. In 2010 FiDiPro Professor Jonathan Knowles and Senior Researcher Caroline Heckman were recruited to FIMM to establish the Personalized Cancer Medicine Group. The aim of this group is to utilize cutting-edge technologies for cancer patient sample analyses including next-gen genomic and transcriptomic sequencing, proteomics and high-throughput drug screening. Integrative processing of datasets generated from these analyses will not only identify patient specific biomarkers, but also endeavor to determine new therapeutic options. Furthermore, a better understanding of disease pathogenesis offered by in-depth molecular profiling may yield new ideas for drug development.
The group works closely with clinicians in order to facilitate patient sample access for basic researchers and to move information derived from molecular profiling and high throughput drug studies back to the clinic. This is exemplified by collaboration with Prof. Kimmo Porkka and Dr. Satu Mustjoki of the HUS Hematology Clinic and Hematology Research Unit (see “In focus 2010: Personalized medicine in leukaemias”). Investigations of leukaemia patient samples have already identified novel pathogenic mutations, revealed altered signaling pathways and are leading to the development of new protocols for patient treatment.
Group members
| Jonathan Knowles | Finnish Distinguished Professor and principal investigator |
| Caroline Heckman | Senior Researcher and co-principal investigator |
| Samuli Eldfors | Bioinformatician |
| Muntasir Mamun Majumder | PhD student |
| Riikka Karjalainen | PhD student |
| Poojitha Kota Venkata | PhD student |
| Heikki Kuusanmäki | Master's student |
| Alun Parsons | Senior Research Technician |
Selected Publications
- Heckman C, Holopainen T, Wirzenius M, et al. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor cediranib blocks ligand-induced vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3 activity and lymphangiogenesis. Cancer Res 2008;68:4754-62.
- Heckman CA, Holopainen T, Alitalo K. Molecular targeting of lymphangiogenesis and tumor metastasis. Current Clinical Oncology 2008;Chapter 28: Cancer Metastasis: From Local Proliferation to Distant Sites Through the Lymphovascular System.
- Duan H, Heckman CA, Boxer LM. Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Down-Regulate bcl-2 Expression and Induce Apoptosis in t(14;18) Lymphomas. Mol Cell Biol 2005;25:1608–19.
- McBride DJ, Orpana AK, Sotiriou C, et al. Use of cancer-specific genomic rearrangements to quantify disease burden in plasma from patients with solid tumors. Genes, Chromosomes and Cancer 2010;49:1062–9.
- Kallioniemi O, Pitkänen K, Knowles JKC. Molekyylitason näkökulma potilaan hoitoon. Duodecim 2010;126(19):2329-32