Pharmaceutical Sciences Laboratory, Åbo Akademi

I det här nyhetsbrevet får du bland annat läsa om "Årets farmaceut"-priset, de nya finansieringsbesluten samt ett urval av det senaste på forskningsfronten.

In this newsletter, you will read about the "Pharmacist of the year" award, the newest funding decisions and some selected research news.

Glad sommar önskas alla läsare! | Have a nice summer!

Innehåll | Table of Contents

Studentnytt | Student news

Finansieringsnytt | Funding news

Hongbo Zhang and his team has invented a novel technology to encapsulate bioactive mitochondria with metal organic framework, which is fundamental for mitochondria transplantation-based therapy. With this invention, the isolated mitochondria maintain their bioactivity for up to four weeks in room temperature instead of 4-6 hours with today´s mitochondria isolation kit. A patent has been filed in August 2021. In this Business Finland project, Zhang and his team members will further investigate this technology and prepare all necessary research and business analysis to commercialize it, and hopefully establish a startup company after this project. They also aim that the mitochondria transplantation-based therapy can benefit the treatment of many current challenging and untreatable diseases, such as cancer, neurodegeneration disease, metabolism disease, heart failure, as well as improve the life conditions like fatness and aging.    

1. FarmAInteraktion. Partners: Malin Andtfolk (Hälsovetenskaper); Johan Lilius,  Andreas Lundell och Prashani Jaysingha Arachchige (Informationsteknologi); Sara Rosenberg (Farmaci); Susanne Hägglund (Experience Lab & Hälsovetenskaper); Sören Andersson och Mattias Wingren (Experience Lab).

Välfärdsteknologi och nya digitala lösningar är viktiga satsningsområden för både hälso- och socialvården och de behövs för att möta växande behov av välfärdstjänster. Under coronapandemin har också framkommit helt nya behov av digitala verktyg och även nya användningsområden för robotik. Samtidigt ökar trycket på evidens och högklassiga forskningsresultat eftersom välfärdsområdets utveckling bör vara evidens- och kunskapsbaserat inom alla områden. Sociala robotar med integrerad artificiell intelligens föreslås bidra till ökad välfärd inom social- och hälsovård, också vid apotek.  

Det planerade projektet FarmAInteraktion är ett tvärvetenskapligt samarbete och resultaten bygger på insatser från samtliga parter med kompletterande kompetenser. Enheten för vårdvetenskap/hälsovetenskaperna innehar kunskap inom vårdområdet och välfärdsteknologi, Experience Lab inom design av människa-robotinteraktion och mätning av användarupplevelser, enheten för informationsteknologi inom maskininlärning, artificiell intelligens (AI) och programmering av robotar, och enheten för farmaci inom farmakologi samt läkemedels- och medicineringssäkerhet. Vi kommer att utarbeta en applikation för roboten Furhat, där tanken är att Furhart ska ge  läkemedelsinformation, upplysning och rådgivning (t.ex. ge råd och kunskap gällande läkemedel, läkemedelsinteraktioner, eventuella biverkningar och kontraindikationer) på apotek, med speciellt fokus på minoritetsspråket svenska.   

2. Steps toward psychedelic science in Finland (Steps-22). Partners: Dr. Jussi Jylkkä (Psychology/ÅA) and Dr. Samuli Kangaslampi (Psychology/Tampere University); Dr. Outi Salo-Ahen (Pharmacy/ÅA). External collaborators include our ethical advisor, Dr. Susanne Uusitalo (University of Turku); medical advisor, Prof. of psychiatry, MD Hasse Karlsson (Turku University Hospital); MD Oskari Kantonen (Turku PET Center/University of Turku); and the psychopharmacology research team at Maastricht University, Netherlands, led by Prof. Kim Kuypers.

Classical psychedelics such as psilocybin or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) are substances that act as agonists on serotonin 5HT2A receptors and produce an altered state of consciousness. Based on meta-analyses of clinical trials thus far, psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) shows extraordinary therapeutic potential in the treatment of, e.g., major depression, death anxiety in palliative care, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychedelic research is on the rise even in Finland, with a focus on internet-based studies, philosophical research, and non-human animal trials. However, attempts to conduct research in human subjects have thus far not been successful.

The Steps-22 project will make the necessary preliminary steps to enable the first human trial with classical psychedelics in Finland. The project will identify the ethical, legal, and practical possibilities and obstacles to conducting psychedelic research in Finland. The actual experiment that would be run in 1-3 years will be planned during the Steps-22 project.Psychedelics are pharmacological agents that act on the brain, but the changes they produce are salient in consciousness. It has been shown that the treatment outcomes of PAT are mediated by the depth of the mystical-type experience that they produce. This calls for multidisciplinary work that involves, e.g., philosophy and other humanities in addition to medicine, pharmacy and psychology. The research will rely on the multidisciplinary Psychedelics Research Network (PRN) that is based at Åbo Akademi (ÅA) and now includes c. 30 researchers from, e.g., medicine, pharmacy, psychology, philosophy, sociology, history, and theology.

Nya publikationer | New publications

Ca2+ Enhanced Photosensitizer/DNase I Nanocomposite Mediated Bacterial Eradication through Biofilm Disruption and Photothermal Therapy. M. Ran, Z. Gounani, J. Yan, J.M. Rosenholm*, H. Zhang*, Nano Select 2022 http://doi.org/10.1002/nano.202200026

Figure: Schematic representation of the nanocomposite and the mechanism of biofilm eradication with NIR irradiation by photothemral therapy and enzymatic treatment.

Biofilms are currently responsible for 80% of human chronic bacterial infections, being composed of bacterial communities within self-produced extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) that can resist various adverse factors in the bacterial microenvironment such as antibiotic drugs. Therefore, the development of powerful antibacterial systems by disrupting biofilms first and killing exposed free-living bacteria is the top priority for clinical antibiotic needs. In this study, we developed a pH- and photothermally responsive photosensitizer/enzyme-loaded nanocomposite for enhanced biofilm disruption and bacteria killing (gram-positive and gram negative). The nanosystem was composed of DSPE-PEG2000 micelles encapsulating a NIR dye (IR780), whereas an enzyme (DNase I) was anchored onto the micellar surface. This pH-sensitive nanocomposite degraded as a response to the acidic conditions characteristic for the biofilm environment, and released DNase I and Ca2+ ions simultaneously. The Ca2+ stabilized the active structure of DNase I, which facilitated the dispersion of the biofilm EPS; which in turn lead to the interior bacteria being exposed and killed by IR780-mediated hyperthermia (see figure). In conclusion, this synergistic effect of DNase I and photothermal therapy could efficiently eradicate the biofilms, exhibiting superior biofilm dispersion and destruction capability.

This is currently an active area of research stemming back to Drug Discovery of Natural Products Laboratory established at PSL in 2005 by the late Prof. Pia Vuorela, with the focus on discovering new drugs precisely for biofilm treatment. We recently submitted a local infrastructure (FIRI) application “Local infrastructure for monitoring bacterial growth, related mechanisms, and treatments” to the Academy of Finland together with the Laboratory of Molecular Science and Engineering / Physical Chemistry, where we want to acquire specialized surface-sensitive real-time label-free instruments for measuring biofilm adsorption and growth, their surface charge, interfacial interactions, and electrochemical phenomena.

A couple of our currently graduating MSc students also did their MSc thesis projects within this topic: Kia Peura - Mesoporous silica nanoparticles as protein carriers for antibiofilm applications and Ronja Hellman - Assessment of mesoporous silica nanoparticle interactions with biofilms by confocal microscopy and surface plasmon resonance.

Microfluidic-Assisted Fabrication of Dual-Coated pH-Sensitive Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Protein Delivery. Berrin Küçüktürkmen et al. Biosensors. 2022 (https://doi.org/10.3390/bios12030181) 

In this study, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with enlarged pores were synthesized to achieve high protein loading combined with high protein retention within the MSN system with the aid of a microfluidic coating. Thus, MSNs were first coated with a cationic polyelectrolyte, poly (diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDMA), and to potentially further control the protein release, a second coating of a pH-sensitive polymer (spermine-modified acetylated dextran, SpAcDEX) was deposited by a designed microfluidic device. The protective PDDMA layer was first formed under aqueous conditions, whereby the bioactivity of the protein could be maintained. The second coating polymer, SpAcDEX, was preferred to provide pH-sensitive protein release in the intracellular environment. The optimized formulation was effectively taken up by the cells along with the loaded protein cargo. This proof-of-concept study thus demonstrated that the use of microfluidic technologies for the design of protein delivery systems has great potential in terms of creating multicomponent systems and preserving protein stability.

UiO-66-NH2 as a novel ultrahigh-selective adsorbent superior to molecularly imprinted polymers for the adsorption of artesunate. Minjia Meng et al. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects. 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2022.128830)  

In this work, a simple metal-organic framework (MOF) material, UiO-66-NH2, was prepared for the highly efficient separation of artemisinin (Art) and artesunate (Aru). Selective adsorption tests showed that UiO-66-NH2 presented a much higher selectivity toward Aru than Art (αAru/Art = 40.74). The N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm results of UiO-66-NH2 indicated a suitable pore size to enable the free entry of Art and Aru. Contact angle analysis indicated that UiO-66-NH2 is hydrophilic with the -NH2 group, and can interact with the hydrophobic Aru through hydrogen bonding between the -NH2 and -COOH groups, which is not possible with the hydrophobic Art. The selective adsorption of Aru onto UiO-66-NH2 may be attributed to three factors: pore size, functional groups, and difference in hydrophobic/hydrophilic characteristics between the adsorbent and adsorbate. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared using Aru as a template for selective adsorption experiments to verify the excellent selectivity of UiO-66-NH2. The adsorption amount (65.24 mg g−1) and selectivity factor (αAru/Art = 40.74) of UiO-66-NH2 toward Aru were significantly better than those of the MIPs (2.039 mg g−1 and 3.072, respectively). The binding capacity and better selectivity of UiO-66-NH2 provide evidence supporting the potential of MOF adsorbents for the separation of various analogous molecules.

Mussel-Inspired and Bioclickable Peptide Engineered Surface to Combat Thrombosis and Infection. Xiaohui Mou et al. Research. 2022 (https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9780879)  

Editorial: Functional and Smart Biomaterials: Development and Application in Regenerative Medicine. Guicai Li et al. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol., 2022（https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.920730）

The development of functional and smart biomaterials has emerged the multidisciplinary subjects including medicine, biology, physics, chemistry and materials science, etc., and is playing important role in clinical applications, e.g., facilitating wound healing and restoring other types of biological. However, the performance of these biomaterials still need to be further enhanced due to the complicated interactions with components of living systems and the unpredictable responses of body to biomaterials. Thus, a good design and development of functional and smart biomaterials will be a guarantee for their future clinical applications for improving patients’ health and life. Today, with the flourishing of biomaterials and regenerative medicine, more and more researcher are joining this field to study the functional and smart biomaterials for various regenerative medicine applications. To highlight the current progress, this Research Topic aims to bring together the latest exciting achievements referring to the development and application of functional and smart biomaterials on regenerative medicine. Here, we collected a total of 16 papers, which present a broad range of the functional and smart biomaterials design, preparation, evaluation and application for various biological systems; and summarize the current progress of functional and smart biomaterials in regenerative medicine.

Efficient nanozyme engineering for antibacterial therapy. Yonghai Feng et al. Material Futures. 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5724/ac7068) 

PSL i media | PSL in media

• Proviisorilehti 2/22: https://issuu.com/proviisoriviesti/docs/proviisori_2_22_digi/16
• Apteekkari / Blogit: https://www.apteekkari.fi/blogit/valoisaa-pilotointia-laihialla
• Åbo Akademi: https://www.abo.fi/nyheter/funktionella-material-hjalper-cancermediciner-hitta-ratt/
• Inflames weekly mail: https://www.emaileri.fi/g/l/329699/75900153/2274826/7915/2692/2