UEF secures funding for research on new personalised therapies

The University of Eastern Finland has secured 650,000 euros of Business Finland funding for the New Modalities Ecosystem, which is a research consortium led by Orion Corporation. The New Modalities Ecosystem comprises four universities and research institutes, and seven companies. Research carried out by the University of Eastern Finland in the New Modalities Ecosystem spans three years.

The aim of the New Modalities Ecosystem is to enable improved understanding of disease pathology related to the symptoms and disease progression, and better treatments by applying large molecular drugs and diagnostic tools as well as digital wearable patient tools for disease symptom recording.  The ecosystem participants include the University of Turku, the University of Helsinki, the University of Eastern Finland and Folkhälsan.  In addition to Orion Corporation, the companies participating in the ecosystem are PerkinElmer, Syrinx Bioanalytics, AdmeScope, Petsofi, Forendo Pharma and InMe.

At the University of Eastern Finland, research focuses on progressive myoclonus epilepsy (EPM1, Unverricht–Lundborg disease). Led by Professor Reetta Kälviäinen in Kuopio, the symptomatology and treatment of this disease have been actively studied for several years, and the world’s largest set of patient data relating to EPM1 has also been collected in Kuopio. 

Digital applications for measuring and reporting motion disturbances in patients with EPM1, on the other hand, are being developed by Professor Pasi Karjalainen and his research group at the University of Eastern Finland. These new digital applications can be used in clinical trials and in the monitoring of patients in an at-home setting, which makes it possible to verify symptoms that may not be present at the time of a medical appointment. The technology can be used to monitor all motion disturbances in an at-home setting, and the research group has reported promising results in the context of Parkinson’s disease, for example.

This release was first published 18 September 2018 by the University of Eastern Finland.