Paavo Honkakoski, professor of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Eastern Finland, presented a short course on nuclear receptor regulation at a major US research University, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in January. The Eshelman School of Pharmacy has been ranked as the best pharmacy school in the US. The School is part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH).
In two-hour sessions held over three days, Honkakoski covered the basics of nuclear receptors, including receptor structure and function, measurement of receptor activation, their importance in human physiology, disease and drug therapy, the development of selective NR modulators, and examples for diseases of the central nervous system. He then discussed nuclear receptors and absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, and the regulators PXR and CAR along with other nuclear receptors important in drug metabolism and transport.
In addition to the short course, he participated in extensive Q&A sessions with UNC students and provided one-on-one mentoring to Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows on their research projects.
“We appreciate Dr. Honkakoski taking the time to share his knowledge.” said Kim L.R. Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., associate dean for research and graduate education, in a news article published on the school’s website. “It was a wonderful opportunity to learn from one of the global experts on nuclear receptors.”
Recently, Honkakoski also acted as a visiting professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
The short course was part of cooperation based on an an ERASMUS+ mobility agreement between The School of Pharmacy of the University of Eastern Finland and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The agreement on researcher, teacher and student mobility was signed for 2016–2018. The research cooperation focuses on drug-transporting proteins. In addition, the cooperation covers all levels of university education and PhD training. Last year, Master of Pharmacy student Antti Kauttonen visited UNC-CH to do the practical work for his Master’s Thesis. This spring, there will be reciprocal researcher visits between UEF and UNCH-CH.
News article on UNC-CH website https://pharmacy.unc.edu/news/2018/01/22/honkakoski-delivers-nuclear-receptor-short-course-unc/
Antti Kauttonen’s blog post: https://blogs.uef.fi/on-the-move/?s=Kauttonen
For further information, please contact:
Professor Paavo Honkakoski, paavo.honkakoski (a) uef.fi, +358 40 355 2490