Matti Poutanen

I have biochemistry as basic training. Currently I share my activities by two academic positions, and I do act as a Professor of Physiology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, and as a Senior Scientist, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Among all tasks at the University of Turku, I am directing the activities of Turku Center for Disease Modeling (TCDM, www.tcdm.fi). The Unit was established at 2006, and serves as a research infrastructure focusing on experimental studies in mice in vivo. TCDM is also one of the four Mouse Model Infrastructures of BioCenter Finland, and also is a partner at the Finnish nodule of the European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine (EATRIS, https://eatris.eu/) network, and we have generated numerous genetically modified mouse models for the scientific community as well as pharma industry, and currently apply also the CRPR/Cas technology for generating the mouse mutants. Accordingly, my own research strategies also relay on various in vivo techniques. Our main research topic is the mechanisms of steroid and lipid synthesis and action, and we aim at identification of novel drug targets in steroid signalling pathways. A combination of the genetically modified mouse models with surgical techniques and pharmacological interventions used have given us an extensive capability to induce misbalanced nuclear receptor action in mice in vivo. The translational nature of the scientific work carried out is reflected by the commercializing activities during the recent years, including the establishment of Forendo Pharma ltd recently acquired by Organon.