Virtual molecules for real medicines

The pharmacist Outi Salo-Ahen

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Outi Salo-Ahen (Foto: Michael Papadopoulos).

Nowadays, effective medicines are not just designed in laboratories but on virtual drawing-boards, too. Using computer modelling, the Finnish pharmacist, Outi Salo-Ahen, is researching into made-to-measure molecular agents to fight diseases like cancer. In Heidelberg she has found the very conditions she needs.

Outi Salo-Ahen is enthusiastic about the history of pharmacology al though she herself no longer extracts essences from plants or mixes salves and tinctures. The Finnish scientist works in a very modern branch of pharmaceutical research, so-called molecular modelling. This involves computer simulations of biological processes as they occur on the molecular level in organisms. These simulations can give us an idea how disease is generated and how it can be treated. In her research the Scandinavian tries to produce tailor-made medicines for treating cancer. The patterns she designs are passed on to partners with whom she collaborates at Modena University in Italy. There they produce the corresponding chemical compounds. Lab tests then reveal whether the "made to measure suits" really do fit and whether they have the desired biological effect.

Outi Salo-Ahen tackles the drug resistence problem of the enzyme thymidylate synthase, shown as stereoscopic (Foto: Outi Salo-Ahen). Click here for a larger image.

This is the work the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellow is carrying out at a research institute in Heidelberg. Her place of work is very near Heidelberg Castle, in the grounds of the Villa Bosch. Salo-Ahen has been working there since April 2006 in Rebecca Wade's group at EML Research, the Klaus Tschira Foundation's research institute, formerly the European Media Laboratory GmbH. A fellow student at Kuopio University told Salo-Ahen about this private research establishment, which carries out both basic and applied research in the field of information technology. Aft er exchanging a few emails with EML Research and receiving confirmation that she had been granted fellowships by the Humboldt Foundation and Finnish foundations, the way was open for a two-year research stay in Germany. It is already the Finnish scientist's third research visit: when she was working on her diploma dissertation and indeed her doctoral thesis Salo-Ahen did research in Germany. She came into contact with virtual pharmacy for the first time at Düsseldorf University under Hans-Dieter Höltje. "I wanted to write my diploma dissertation abroad," the pharmacist explains, "and Düsseldorf and molecular modelling seemed like a good option for me."

Originally, Salo-Ahen intended to stop studying after she had taken her diploma. "Discussing and defending scientific results was something I couldn't really see myself doing." But after she had finished her diploma dissertation her enthusiasm for research refused to abate. "I like to get to the very bottom of things and I can be extremely tenacious about it." The fact that her Faustian drive for absolute knowledge is serving a good cause, i.e. developing new drugs and methods of treatment, is an added incentive.

Finnish initiative, German strength

Ambitious funding and investment programmes in her native country are busy compensating for the disadvantages of location on the geographical periphery of Europe. At Kuopio University, for example, the Drug Research and Development Centre has been founded which particularly promotes cooperation between science and business. The national agency, Tekes, and the state fund, Sitra, provide start-up financing and counselling to support companies establishing themselves in the country. This means good conditions for research. So, why should a young, Finnish junior researcher keep coming back to Germany none the less? For two reasons, Salo-Ahen explains: Germany is right at the forefront of international research and more firmly integrated in European cooperative research - not least because of its geographical position. "Here there are more eminent academics than in Finland, although my country is doing a great deal to change that," she comments. And secondly, Germany is very strong on basic research which is where she feels at home scientifically.

"Our place of work is certainly one of the nicest in this area": Outi Salo-Ahen in the garden of the Villa Bosch (Foto: Michael Papadopoulos). Click here for a larger image.

"Both my visits to Germany made a significant impact on my academic and personal development - just as the current stay at EML Research is now," she notes, praising her hosts. The international team working with the British scientist, Rebecca Wade - only three of the fourteen members of the group are German - creates a very stimulating and motivating working atmosphere. Given the presence of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the German Cancer Research Centre and the university in Heidelberg, there are three distinguished collaborative partners to be found in the immediate vicinity. Furthermore, EML Research and the Klaus Tschira Foundation encourage their staff to take part in international academic conferences. In Salo-Ahen's opinion, Germany is one of the best places for research and Heidelberg can hold its own with the best internationally. "I wouldn't know what more I could get out of a postdoc visit to the USA," the Finn, who is married to a Ghanaian, concludes. Heidelberg is a good choice for this cosmopolitan couple. For her it is an excellent opportunity to continue developing as a researcher, while her husband is taking a Master's degree in nearby Mainz.

Through the German course they attended together and the congregation at church they soon made a circle of friends in Heidelberg. Salo-Ahen does not only enjoy meeting people from other countries and cultures at work; in her leisure time, too, she likes hearing and speaking foreign languages. At the weekend she and her husband enjoy cycling with friends. Or the couple invites friends around to cook. "Heidelberg reminds me of Kuopio: it's not too big and has wonderful countryside round-about. The Rhine-Neckar region has a lot going for it culturally and our place of work is certainly one of the nicest in this area," she enthuses.

Every day, 31-year-old Salo-Ahen cycles nearly 15 kilometres from her home to work and back again - her own personal fitness programme. In response to the question what she intended doing in the winter, the northern European just laughs. "My bicycle and I have been on the road in Finland at minus 30 degree Celsius. No need to change," she explains, "we'll manage to get through the snow and ice all right."

Salo-Ahen was born in the southern Finnish town of Nokia. The company of the same name founded there originally produced paper, then rubber boots and tires before turning to the market in communications technology - an interesting parallel to Salo-Ahen's academic career which has taken her from extracting plant tinctures to virtual molecular biology. Perhaps it is the fact of coming from Nokia which makes Salo-Ahen eternally curious and open to new challenges.

By Michael Papadopoulos

16.01.2008