Events

Preclinical and Clinical Approaches to Mood Disorders Symposium on 7-8 February 2024 at Porthania PIII Auditorium, Yliopistonkatu 3, Helsinki.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Ipek Yalcin, Tomi Rantamäki, 
Khaled Abdallah, Gemma González, 
Iman Baramaki, Iina Annala, Marjo Vaha

Day 1: Preclinical Approach 7 Febr 

09.15-09.30    Opening session
09.30-10.30    Caroline Menard, University of Laval: Neurovascular adaptations and biomarkers underlie stress vulnerability vs resilience in mice and human depression.
10.30-11.00    Coffee break
11.00-12.00    Juan Nacher, University of Valencia: Impact of early life adversity on neural circuits and vulnerability to psychiatric disorders.
12.00-13.30    Lunch break (Salad buffet)
13.30-14.30    Alexander Surget, University of Tours: The functional role of adult neurogenesis in shaping hippocampus-dependent functions, stress response and depression-like behaviors - a neurobiological and computational perspective.
14.30-15.30    Iiris Hovatta, University of Helsinki Myelin plasticity in chronic stress and anxiety.
15.30-16.00    Coffee 

Day 2: Clinical Approach Febr 8 

09.00-10.00    Heidi Taipale, Karolinska Institutet and University of Eastern Finland: 
Real-world effectiveness of pharmacotherapies for psychotic depression.
10.00-11.00    Siegfried Kasper, Medical University of Vienna: Recent advances in treatment resistant depression (TRD)
11.00-11.30    Coffee break
11.30-12.30    Marc Hebert, University of Laval: The Eye: An Accessible Window to the Brain for Investigating Biomarkers in Mental Health
12.30    Closing session 

Prof. Noelle L'etoile, PhD (Cell and Tissue Biology) visited our special seminar on Wed June 14th at 10-11 am at BMH1, lecture hall 2.

RPU Science Day & Summer Party on May 12 2023, at University of Helsinki Great Hall and Restaurant Pörssi. SleepWell and Individrug  programs are organizing the RPU Science Day this year.

The 8th Finnish Symposium on Biological Psychiatry 
Monday 19 December, 2022 9:00-17:00
Venue: University of Helsinki, Meilahti campus, Haartmaninkatu 3, Lecture hall 1 / via Zoom

The symposium will include:
Keynote lecture by Dr. Julia Sacher, Minerva Research Group EGG (Emotion & neuroimaGinG) Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany: Impact of hormonal changes in mood regulation

Talks by leading Finnish investigators in biological psychiatry Dr. Erika Jääskeläinen (University of Oulu) Prof. Tomi Rantamäki (University of Helsinki)

• Short talks by young investigators, selected based on submitted abstracts.
• Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 5.12.  
• Posters selected based on submitted abstracts. 
• Target audience: Students, postdocs and faculty working on human genetic and imaging studies in psychiatric diseases, mechanisms of psychiatric diseases, including functional, pharmacological and genetic analyses in model organisms, and related fields.
• Credits (NEUBM-301): Students will receive 1 ECTS from attendance + submitting a 1 page essay on the scientific content of the symposium, or 2 ECTS by attendance + poster/oral presentation + essay. 

We hope to see you there!
Tiina Paunio, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry            
Annette Horstmann, PhD, associate professor of behavioral and brain sciences   
Iiris Hovatta, PhD, professor of behavioral genetics
Katri Kantojärvi, PhD, senior researcher                     
Hendrik Hartmann, MSc, doctoral student

Treating the comorbidity of insomnia and pain -seminar
On 14th October 2022 at 13.00-15.00
Online in Teams or at HUS Women’s Hospital, Seth Wichmann Lecture Hall
The seminar is free of charge.

The seminar will be organised by HUS Pain Clinic and SLEEPWELL Research
Program (University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine)

Programme

13.00 - Welcome!
Eija Kalso, Chair
Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of 
Helsinki and Pain Clinic, HUS

13.05-13.50 Treating co-occurring pain and insomnia: What can cognitive-behavioural therapy 
(CBT) offer?
Steven Linton
Professor of Clinical Psychology, Örebro University

13.50-14.20 Mobile-delivered therapist-assisted cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia in Finland
Jan-Henry Stenberg
Head of IT Psychiatry and Psychosocial Treatments, 
HUS

14.20-14.50 Using behavioural strategies to increase resilience to uncertainty, symptoms, and distress in chronic pain and sleep
Rikard Wicksell
Psychologist, docent, Karolinska Institute

14.50-15.00 Discussion

In Finnish:
Hybridikoulutus
(TEAMS tai Naistenklinikka)

Aika ja Paikka:
Perjantai 14.10.2022 klo 13-15
HUS Naistenklinikka, Haartmaninkatu 2, 
Seth Wichman sali (rajoitettu paikkamäärä/ 
ennakkoilmoittautuminen) tai TEAMS-
verkkokoulutus.

• Teams-linkki ilmoittautuneille toimitetaan noin viikko ennen ajankohtaa. Luento englanniksi.
• Koulutuksen tavoite: Koulutuksessa käsitellään kivun hoitoa eri potilasryhmien kohdalla
• Kohderyhmä: Asiasta kiinnostuneet terveydenhuollon ammattilaiset HUS-organisaatiossa sekä
• HUS-organisaation ulkopuolella. Kaikille avoin.
• Ei osallistumismaksua. 

Koulutuksen järjestää:

• SleepWell program (University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine)
• HYKS Kipuklinikka
• HUS Simulaatiokeskus ja
• HUS ATeK Koulutuskeskus

UNI JA AIVOT – MIKSI NUKUMME? (In Finnish only)

17:00 Tilaisuuden avaus
Professori Tiina Paunio, SleepWell ohjelmayksikön johtaja, Helsingin yliopisto

17:10 Miksi aivoterveyttä kannattaa edistää?
Professori Risto Roine, Suomen Aivot ry
Toimitusjohtaja Jenni Pajunen, Aivosäätiö

17:20 Miksi aivomme tarvitsevat unta?
Dosentti, unitutkija Tarja Stenberg, Helsingin yliopisto

17:50 Mitä jos en nuku? Unihäiriöiden taakka.
Professori, neurologian erikoislääkäri Markku Partinen

18:20 Miten nukkuisin paremmin?
Psykologi Soili Kajaste

18:50 Tilaisuuden päätös
Professori Tiina Paunio

15.00-15.10 Professor, Program Director Tiina Paunio
Opening of the symposium

15.10-15.30 Professor Katja Valli
Dreaming: what, how and why?

Katja Valli is an adjunct professor of psychology at the Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Finland, and an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy, University of Skövde, Sweden. Her research focuses on altered states of consciousness, mainly sleep, anesthesia and dreaming, and her major works address the content and neural correlates of consciousness and dreaming, and the evolutionary function of dreaming. She has served as the president, vice-president and board member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, and as a treasurer of the Finnish Sleep Research Society.

15.30-16.10 Professor Sophie Schwarts
Emotional processing during sleep and dreaming

MA in Biology, Ma and PhD in Psychology; PhD fellowship at UC Berkeley (Philosophy Dept. and Psychology Dept.); Postdoc training at University College London (Functional Imaging Lab). Currently, head of the Sleep and Cognition Lab and full professor at the Neuroscience Dept., Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Together with the collaborators in my lab, we study the role of sleep and dreaming in learning and memory processes. Our research focuses on distinct facets of neural plasticity such as perceptual and emotional learning, offline replay of neural and mental memory representations. Another interest in the lab concerns the role of the dopaminergic reward system in decision making, creativity, and dreaming. We use advanced neuroimaging approaches to assess brain functions in healthy adult volunteers, as well as in patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders.

16.10-16.50 Doctor Fransesca Siclari
Dreaming in heealthy subjects and patients with sleep disorders

Dr. Francesca Siclari graduated in medicine at the University of Geneva in 1999 and subsequently specialized in neurology and sleep medicine at the University Hospitals in Lausanne and Zürich. Between 2011 and 2014, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the ‘Center for Sleep and Consciousness’ in the laboratory of Giulio Tononi, where she studied the dreaming as a model of consciousness. After her return to Switzerland in 2014, she habilitated at the University of Lausanne, where she currently co-directs the Center for Investigation and Research on Sleep. Her research focuses on the scientific exploration of dreaming in both healthy subjects and patients with sleep disorders.

16.50-17.00 Break

17.00-17.40 Professor Jerry Siegel
Do animals dream?

Studies of the evolution and function of sleep.
I have been particularly interested in the functions and pathologies of REM sleep. Work in the 1970s (Allison and colleagues), concluded, from studies of the echidna, that REM sleep was not present in the early mammals, leading to the supposition that it was directly linked to advances in cognitive capability. I went to Australia to study sleep in the two “primitive” monotreme mammals, the egg laying platypus (Siegel et al., 1999) and echidna (Siegel et al., 1996). I found that they, in fact, had REM sleep. Surprisingly, the platypus has the greatest amount of REM sleep of any animal with a very high level of rapid eye movements. Subsequently, a paper on the ostrich, a primitive bird, was entitled, with reference to our 1999 paper, “Ostriches sleep like platypuses” (Lesku et al. 2011), reinforcing our conclusion that the brainstem REM sleep pattern was likely universal in early homeotherms and indeed may be the earliest form of sleep to have evolved in mammals. In June of 2018 we published a paper showing that whereas fur seals have REM sleep amounts similar to those seen in humans when they are on land, they cease having REM sleep when they are in the water, where they spend most of their lives (Lyamin et al, 2018). When they return to land they show no REM sleep “rebound.” We suggest that REM sleep is linked to bilateral nonREM sleep. Since fur seals in the water have unihemispheric nonREM sleep like dolphins, they cease having REM sleep in the water, also like dolphins. I was asked by Nature (2005) to review the evidence on sleep phylogeny and concluded that, contrary to early comparative studies, sleep duration is not inversely related to body size. A relation to body size would imply a relation to metabolic rate which has been shown to be tightly linked to body mass. Rather, sleep amount is correlated with the evolved habitual diet (not actual food consumption), with carnivores sleeping more than omnivores which in turn sleep more than herbivores. Only herbivores show an inverse relation of sleep duration to body mass, linked to the amount of time they needed to consume adequate amounts of their low calorie density food, not to brain size or metabolic rate. The study of sleep in humans living in the environment in which humans evolved, is a natural extension of this prior work. We have found (Yetish et al., 2015) that contrary to prior assumptions, hunter gatherers: 1. Do not go to sleep at sunset. 2. Sleep less, not more, than humans in most “industrial” societies. 3. Do not have midday naps or polycyclic sleep. 4. Do not regularly awaken in the middle of the night, but rather have a continuous period of nighttime sleep. 5. Have substantially different sleep amounts in winter vs. summer. 6. Do not have insomnia, in contrast to the 10-15% rates of insomnia in all industrial societies.
a. Siegel, J.M. The REM sleep-memory consolidation hypothesis. Science 294:1058-1063, 2001. PMCID: 11691984 {618}
b. Siegel, J.M. Clues to the functions of mammalian sleep. Nature 437:1264-1271, 2005 PMCID: 16251951 {846}
c. Oleg I. Lyamin, Peter O. Kosenko, Svetlana M. Korneva, Alexei L.

17.40-18.20 PhD Gianina Ungurean
A bird´s-eye view of REM sleep

Gianina Ungurean obtained a Masters of engineering in Biotechnologies at the National Institute for Applied Sciences in Lyon, France. Before starting her PhD, she studied sleep during the last year of her Masters, working on the mechanisms of sensory transmission and gating during REM sleep. For the past four years of doctoral work in the Avian Sleep group at Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany (Seewiesen), she investigated different aspects of the avian sleep, with a focus on REM sleep. She employs a comparative approach to investigate the mechanisms and functions of sleep.

Uni on terveydelle tärkeää. Tämä ilmenee johdonmukaisesti väestöpohjaisissa ja laboratorioissa tehdyissä tutkimuksissa. Koska me kaikki nukumme, jokaisella yksilöllä on myös oma, selkeä käsityksensä unesta. Uni on kuitenkin monimutkainen prosessi, jonka kaikkia mekanismeja ja merkitystä ei vielä täysin tunneta.

SleepWell on Suomessa ensimmäinen kansainvälisen arvioinnin läpi käynyt yliopistollinen uneen keskittyvä tutkimusohjelma. SleepWell –tutkijat haluavat tässä tapahtumassa kertoa ymmärrettävällä tavalla unesta ja samalla purkaa erilaisia uneen liittyviä virheellisiä uskomuksia.

Kuusi puheenvuoroa:

Myytti 1: "Unentarve on aina ja kaikille sama" - Yliopistonlehtori Henna-Kaisa Wigren, HY
Myytti 2: "Uni on vain aivoja varten" - Dosentti Tarja Stenberg, HY
Myytti 3: ”Syvä uni on paras uni” – Professori Anu-Katriina Pesonen, HY
Myytti 4: ”Kipu se vain unta häiritsee” - Professori Eija Kalso, HY
Myytti 5: ”Uni paranee, kun mielikin paranee" - Professori Tiina Paunio. HY
Myytti 6: ”Unilääkkeet hoitavat unihäiriöitä" - Apulaisprofessori Tomi Rantamäki, HY

The 6th Finnish Symposium on Biological Psychiatry
 

• Keynote lecture by Michael Eriksen Benros (University of Copenhagen)
• Invited lecture by Salli Antila (University of Helsinki and Wihuri Research Institute):
  "Meningeal lymphatic vessels in the CNS function"

Small group discussion with experts:

• William Hennah: Biomarkers in psychiatry
• Leonard Khirug: Methods of in vivo imaging and electrophysiology in behaving animals
• Anneli Kylliäinen: Autism spectrum disorders
• Francesco Noe: Neuroimmunology
• Hanna Ollilla: Genetics of sleep
• Olli Pietiläinen: Genetics of schizophrenia

Short talks by young investigators, selected based on submitted abstracts. 

• Aino Saarinen (Early adversity and processing of facial emotions: a meta-analysis)
• Aleksi Kukkonen (Bisphenol A exposure during pregnancy, newborn methylation and behavioral problems in childhood: the PREDO study)
• Sonja Sulkava (Genetic background of job-related exhaustion and its link to Alzheimer's disease)
• Marja Koskuvi (Patient iPSC-astrocytes show transcriptional and functional dysregulation in schizophrenia)
• Mikaela Laine (Differential gene expression response of oligodendrocytes and myelin to chronic psychosocial stress in C57BL/6NCrl and DBA/2NCrl mice)
• Sarah Steffens (The impact of circadian rhythmicity and sleep-wake rhythms on microglia)

Target audience: Students, postdocs and faculty working on human genetic and imaging studies in psychiatric diseases, mechanisms of psychiatric diseases, including functional, pharmacological and genetic analyses in model organisms, and related fields. 

Credits (NEUBM-301): Students will receive 1 ECTS from attendance + submitting a 1 page essay on the scientific content of the symposium, or 2 ECTS by attendance + essay + short talk presentation.

ONLINE REGISTRATION

Abstract submission deadline: 20.11.2020 
The deadline for registration without an abstract is November 27, 2020 

We hope to see you there!

Iiris Hovatta, PhD, professor of behavioral genetics      
Tiina Paunio, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry
Maija Koskinen, MSc, doctoral student
Fatma Doagu, MSc, doctoral student 

15.00-15.10 Professor, Program Director Tiina Paunio:
Opening of the symposium

15.10-15.50 Professor Eus van Someren
Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience:
"Towards understanding mechanisms of insomnia"   

Prof. Eus Van Someren was trained in physics, psychophysiology and neuropsychology and received a cum laude PhD in neurobiology from the faculty of medicine. He leads a team at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, aiming to unravel brain mechanisms of chronic insomnia. He received prestigious grants including an ERC-AdG, and founded the Sleep Registry (sleepregistry.org) for rich phenotyping of over 10,000 volunteers. He (co)-authored on more than 250 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals including NJEM, Jama, Nature Genetics, Nature Neuroscience, Lancet Psychiatry, Archives of General Psychiatry, Psychological Bulletin, Brain, Current Biology and PNAS and is widely cited (H-index 55). His informal infectious enthusiasm for a neuroscience of insomnia make him a frequently invited speaker, e.g. at TED-X.

15.50-16.30  Professor Larry D Sanford
Eastern Virginia Medical School:
"Fear conditioning, neuroimmune responses and sleep: Role of amygdala in mediating a complex relationship"  

Larry D. Sanford, PhD, is Professor and Director of the Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Inflammatory Diseases and Vice Chair for Experimental Pathology in the Pathology and Anatomy Department at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk Virginia, USA. Dr. Sanford’s primary research program is focused on using animal models to understand the role interactions between sleep, stress, and fear learning and memory play in the development of PTSD and anxiety disorders. Other work examines the role that sleep plays in mediating the effects of stress and radiation during space flight, behavioral and neural regulation of neuroinflammation, and mechanisms of neural communication

16.30-17.10 Professor Colin Espie
Oxford University:
How and why to treat insomnia?

I am Professor of Sleep Medicine in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (NDCN), University of Oxford where I founded the Experimental & Clinical Sleep Medicine research programme in the Sleep & Circadian Research Institute (SCNi) and I am Clinical Director of the Oxford Online Programme in Sleep Medicine  (https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/study/graduate-students/online-programme-in-sleep-med…). I am a Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and a Senior Research Fellow in the University Department of Psychiatry.

17.10-17.20 Break

17.20-18:00 Professor Sara Aton
University of Michigan:
How sleep loss disrupts hippocampal memory mechanisms 

Dr. Sara Aton received her PhD from Washington University in St .Louis, and carried out postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania with Dr. Marcos Frank. Her laboratory at the University of Michigan, established in 2012, has investigated two sleep-dependent phenomena - consolidation of fear memories in the mouse hippocampus, and consolidation of experience-dependent plasticity in mouse primary visual cortex. Work from her lab, combining in vivo electrophysiology with optogenetic and pharmacogenetic manipulations of brain circuits, has established the vital role for sleep-associated network oscillations in driving both processes. Current studies being carried out in the Aton lab are characterizing how learning experiences and subsequent sleep affect basic biochemical processes in specific neuronal cell types, excitatory/inhibitory balance, and the activity and plasticity of experience-activated  (i.e. engram) neurons.  

18:00-18:40 Professor Ruth Benca
University of California, Irvine:
Sleep and Psychiatry

Dr. Ruth Benca is Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine.  She received her AB at Harvard and her MD and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago. She has been a faculty member at the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was Associate Chair of the Psychiatry Department and Director of the UW Center for Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research. She moved to UC Irvine in 2016, where she has established a sleep medicine center providing clinical care for sleep disorders as well as promoting translational research. Her research focuses on the interface between sleep and psychiatric disorders across the lifespan, and the role of sleep and sleep disorders on Alzheimer’s disease. She has served as principal investigator for studies funded by agencies including the NIH and the DOD.  Her work has spanned basic research in animal models to clinical research and clinical trials. She has authored over 150 articles, reviews and book chapters. She has served as President of the Sleep Research Society and on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and currently is Editor-in-chief of Current Sleep Medicine Reports and Insomnia Section Editor of UpToDate.

Dear Colleagues,  

It was my pleasure to present Dr. Tarja Porkka-Heiskanen – a sleep scientist, teacher, debater, and influencer in sleep medicine – with the European Sleep Science Award 2020 during the Welcome and Opening of the Virtual Edition of our 25th Congress of the European Sleep Research Society (22 Sept 2020). 

Dr. Porkka-Heiskanen received her medical degree in 1983 and her doctoral degree in 1990 from the University of Helsinki. She performed her postdoctoral studies during the 1990’s in the USA at Northwestern University and Harvard Medical school – spending two years at both. 

A central revelation by Dr. Porkka-Heiskanen related to homeostatic regulation of sleep, where she identified adenosine as a key regulatory molecule during her postdoctoral research in the lab of Robert W. McCarley. This finding was published in Science in 1997 and since then, it has been one of the central reports in sleep medicine that paved the path for many other roads in modern sleep research. 

Her interest in sleep research has been exceptionally wide; centered around the basic physiological mechanisms of sleep regulation, it has also extended to broader developmental dimensions –from early development to ageing, as well as to specific, gender-related aspects. She also pioneered studies on the consequences of sleep deprivation on the immune system. In 2018, Dr. PorkkaHeiskanen was awarded The Pisa Sleep Award. 

She has also had central roles in many international activities, including membership in the ESRS Education and Research Committees and Board, chairing the EU Committee and establishing the ESRS Forum for Women. She has acted on the Editorial Boards of several respected international sleep journals, including the Journal of Sleep Research. 

Regarding her contribution towards scientific collaboration, she has coordinated several sleepcentered international consortia and is particularly active in postgraduate education, both nationally and internationally. She established the notable Sleep School at the University of Helsinki, which recently turned into a combination of digital education and hands-on practice – all thanks to Tarja’s efforts. More recently, she pioneered future educational activity at ESRS by establishing the webbased education on basic sleep research, “eLessons”.

Tarja is still active at the University of Helsinki. She is one of our PIs for the SleepWell Research program – the first internationally evaluated research program oriented on sleep medicine at the faculty level in Finland.

As a colleague, she has been exceptionally supportive and innovative. At the same time, she is uncompromising in scientific integrity, logical thinking and scientific reasoning. 

Beyond scientific activities, as some of you might know, she is an excellent dancer; she loves her garden; she is an excellent writer (and could have accomplished a career as a writer if she had wished to do so) – and, most importantly she has an unfailing sense of humor.

Again, it was my great honor – and pleasure – to introduce Dr. Tarja Porkka-Heiskanen as the recipient of the European Sleep Science Award 2020. 

Thank you for your contributions towards the field of sleep science, the ESRS and your scientific collaboration and support of colleagues and young scientists.

Prof. Tiina Paunio

22nd May 2020
ENCORE in Depression:
Synaptic Homeostasis, Plasticity, and Sleep Integrate Rapid Antidepressant Effects
Neuroscience Center, HiLIFE, seminar through zoom 

Laboratory of Neurotherapeutics, Drug Research Program, Division of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Faculty of Pharmacy, & SleepWell Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
Dr. Rantamäki and his team investigates neurobiological mechanisms underlying rapid antidepressant effects. In this seminar he will present their latest findings and recently formulated hypothesis called encoding, consolidation and renormalization in depression (ENCORE-D) that aims explaining rapid (and sustained) antidepressant effects of ketamine and related drugs beyond conventional pharmacology. The hypothesis suggests that rapid and sustained antidepressant effects rely on intrinsic homeostatic mechanisms evoked as a response to the acute pharmacological or physiologic effects (e.g. prominent synaptic potentiation) triggered by the treatment. The hypothesis incorporates elements from the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis (SHY) of sleep and suggests that the fundamental mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and sleep, particularly the homeostatic emergence of slow-wave EEG activity and the renormalization of synaptic strength, are at the center of sustaining antidepressant effects. ENCORE-D provides an interesting mechanistic framework for studying and developing rapid-acting antidepressants.

Selected publications

1. Rantamäki T and Kohtala S: Encoding, consolidation and renormalization in Depression: Synaptic Homeostasis, Plasticity, and Sleep Integrate Rapid Antidepressant Effects. Pharmacological Reviews 72:1–27, 2020
2. Kohtala S, Theilmann W, Rosenholm M, Penna P, Karabulut G, Uusitalo S, Järventausta K, Yli-Hankala A, Yalcin I, Matsui N, Wigren H-K and Rantamäki T: Cortical excitability and activation of TrkB signaling during rebound slow oscillations are critical for rapid antidepressant responses. Molecular Neurobiology 56:4163-4174, 2019 
3. Kohtala S, Theilmann W, Rosenholm M, Müller HK, Kiuru P, Wegener G, Yli-Kauhaluoma J and Rantamäki T: Ketamine-induced regulation of TrkB-GSK3β signaling is accompanied by slow EEG oscillations and sedation but is independent of hydroxynorketamine metabolites. Neuropharmacology 157:107684, 2019
4. Antila A, Ryazantseva M, Popova D, Sipilä P, Guirado R, Kohtala S, Vesa L, Lindholm J, Yalcin I, Sato V, Cordeira J, Autio H, Kislin M, Rios M, Joca S, Casarotto P, Khiroug L, Lauri S, Taira T, Castrén E and Rantamäki T: Isoflurane produces antidepressant effects and activates TrkB signaling in rodents. Scientific Report 7(1):7811, 2017. 
5. Theilmann W, Alitalo O, Yorke I and Rantamäki T: Dose-dependent effects of isoflurane on TrkB and GSK3β signaling: importance of burst suppression pattern. Neuroscience Letters 694:29-33, 2019

Tiedekulma STA­GE 28.1.2020
Ihmeellinen uni

Uni on terveydelle elintärkeää. Se luo perustan niin ihmisten kuin eläinten hyvinvoinnille ja oppimiselle. Unen puutteessa mieliala kärsii, suorituskyky laskee ja pidemmän päälle fysiologisista vaikutuksista voi seurata terveysongelmia. Mutta mitä uni oikeastaan on ja miten sitä tutkitaan? Miten eläinten uni liittyy ihmisten uneen?

Helsingin yliopiston unitutkijat tarkastelevat Tiedekulmassa unta ja nukkumista eri näkökulmista. Tapahtuman juontaa Reetta Räty.

Tapahtuma on osa Tiedekulman Helsinki Health Weekiä, joka vie sinut elämäntieteiden huippuosaamisen äärelle. Osallistu tapahtumaan paikan päällä, seuraa livestriimiä tai katso tallenne! Klikkaa itsesi mukaan tapahtumaan myös Facebookissa.

Oh­jel­ma

Mitä uni on? Kurkistus unen biologiaan
Henna-Kaisa Wigren, yliopistotutkija, unitutkimusryhmän nuorempi ryhmänjohtaja

Uni vasikan hyvinvoinnin mittana?
Laura Hänninen, kliininen opettaja, eläinlääketieteellinen tiedekunta

Ihmisen uni – mitä sillä tekee?
Liisa Kuula, kognitiotieteilijä, unitutkija

Masennuslääkkeet ja uni
Tomi Rantamäki, molekulaarisen farmakologian apulaisprofessori, farmasian tiedekunta

Laura Hänninen (@laurathanninen) on kliininen opettaja Eläinten hyvinvoinnin tutkimuskeskuksessa eläinlääketieteellisessä tiedekunnassa ja on eläinten hyvinvointiin ja käyttäytymiseen hurahtanut eläinlääkäri. “Eläinten käyttäytyminen on portti niiden mieleen, mahdollisuus saada, edes hämärästi, käsitys, mitä ne ajattelevat, mistä pitävät, mitä tuntevat”, hän sanoo. Vinkki terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin edistämiseen: “Riittävä uni! Nukun paljon, ja mielelläni.”

Tutkijatohtori Liisa Kuula (@LiisaKuula) on kognitiotieteilijä ja unitutkija Helsingin yliopistossa. Hän tutkii ihmisten nukkumista ja siihen liittyviä erilaisia ilmiöitä. Liisasta on merkillistä, että lähes kolmannes elämästämme kuluu unessa. Uni on edelleen tutkimuksellekin mysteeri, ja sen mahdista paljastuu koko ajan uutta tietoa. Tutkimusryhmänsä kanssa Liisa pyrkii löytämään syitä unen määrän, laadun ja ajoituksen vaihtelulle ja selvittämään, miten uneen voi vaikuttaa. Vinkki terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin edistämiseen: “Omaa uniterveyttään voi parantaa menemällä viikonloppuisin vartin aikaisemmin nukkumaan kuin arkisin – helppo ja halpa arvostuksen osoitus itselle.”

Tomi Rantamäki (@TomiRantamki) on molekulaarisen farmakologian apulaisprofessori farmasian tiedekunnassa ja mukana lääketieteellisen tiedekunnan SleepWell-tutkimusohjelmassa. Hän johtaa tutkimusryhmää, joka selvittää masennuslääkkeiden vaikutusten mekanismeja. Perinteisestä farmakologisesta ajattelusta poiketen tutkimusryhmä uskoo parhaiden vastausten löytyvän aivoista itsestään – siitä, miten aivot reagoivat hoitoihin. Erityisen kiehtovana Tomi pitää sitä, miten uni ja sen mekanismit liittyvät masennushoitojen toimintaan. Vinkki terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin edistämiseen: “Ole aktiivinen ja osallistuva, ja ennen kaikkea armollinen itsellesi.”

Henna-Kaisa Wigren on yliopistotutkija SleepWell-tutkimusohjelmassa ja unitutkimusryhmän nuorempi ryhmänjohtaja. Henna-Kaisa väittää, että aivojen toimintaa on mahdotonta ymmärtää tutkimalla pelkästään valvetta. Sen sijaan pitää ymmärtää, miksi vireystilat vuorottelevat ja miten aivojen tiedonkäsittely muuttuu unen ja valveen välillä. Erityisesti häntä kiinnostaa, miksi uni on elintärkeää ja miksi unta tai unenkaltaista tilaa esiintyy kaikilla lajeilla. Vinkki terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin edistämiseen: “Kun tekee valveilla ollessaan intensiivisesti aivoja haastavia asioita, jotka tuottavat mielihyvää, tulee samalla vahvistaneeksi luonnollisen unipaineen kertymistä ja silloin uni on yöllä syvempää, pidempää ja palauttavampaa.”

Studia Medicina -yleisöluento 15.1.2020 klo 17.00-19.00
Hyvä, paha stressi

Paikka: Biomedicum Helsinki 1, luentosali 1
Osoite: Meilahti, Haartmaninkatu 8, Helsinki
Järjestäjä: Biomedicum Helsinki -säätiö, Helsingin ja Uudenmaan sairaanhoitopiiri ja HY lääketieteellinen tdk

17.00-17.30 Professori Iiris Hovatta, HY
Stressin fysiologiaa

17.30-18.00 Akatemiaprofessori Katri Räikkönen-Talvitie, HY
Elämän alkuvaiheen stressi

18.00-18.30 Professori, ylilääkäri Tiina Paunio, HY, HUS
Kuinka hallita stressiä?

18.30-19.00 Yleisökysymykset ja keskustelu

Kahvitarjoilu klo 16.00
Vapaa pääsy. Tervetuloa!

The 5th Finnish Symposium on Biological Psychiatry 2019
University of Helsinki, Meilahti campus, Haartmaninkatu 3, Lecture hall 1 

5th Finnish Biological Psychiatry Symposium website

The symposium will include:

Keynote lecture by Prof. Hee-Sup Shin (Institute for Basic Science, Republic of Korea): Genetic and circuitry analysis of affective empathy 

Talks by leading Finnish investigators in biological psychiatry Prof. Tiina Paunio Dr Jari LahtiDr Tuukka Raij

Short talks by young investigators, selected based on submitted abstracts.

• Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 2.12. 
• Posters selected based on submitted abstracts. 

Target audience: Students, postdocs and faculty working on human genetic and imaging studies in psychiatric diseases, mechanisms of psychiatric diseases, including functional, pharmacological and genetic analyses in model organisms, and related fields. 

Credits (NEUBM-301): Students will receive 1 ECTS from attendance + submitting a 1 page essay on the scientific content of the symposium, or 2 ECTS by attendance + poster/oral presentation + essay. 

We hope to see you there!
Iiris Hovatta, PhD, professor of behavioral genetics      
Tiina Paunio, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry
Mikaela Laine, MSc, doctoral student                               
Fatma Doagu, MSc, doctoral student

On Friday 27.9.2019 our new program invited associates and co-workers to celebrate our labs at Haartman institute. 
Speeches were given, toasts were raised and general mood was high!
Thanks to all the participants!