Sirpa Jalkanen
Professor of Immunology, Academician
sirjal@utu.fi +358 29 450 4379 +358 40 566 9611 Tykistökatu 6 Turku ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1922-9732 |
Immunology, inflammation, cancer, drug development, biomarkers
Academician Sirpa Jalkanen is Academy Professor and Professorof Immunology at the Medical Faculty, University of Turku. After her postdoctoral period at Stanford University she has worked in different researcher positions at the University of Turku, Finnish National Institute of Health and Welfare as well as the Academy of Finland. Recently, she has also worked first as a vice chair and then as a chair of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. She is the director of the MediCity Research Laboratory (the Research Unit of the Medical Faculty, University of Turku).
The main interest of Sirpa Jalkanen’s research group has been in the mechanisms mediating the cell trafficking in harmful inflammations and cancer. She has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and has more than 10 patents. She is an EMBO member and a member of Academia Europae and has received several awards and honours such as Eli Lilly award, Maud Kuistila Prize, Anders Jahre Prize, Äyräpää Prize, Datta Medal, and 2ndEuropean Women Innovator Prize and the Finnish Pharma Industry Prize.
She has also several positions of trust. She is a member of the board in three big Finnish Foundations financing research In addition she is a member of the board of Orion, the biggest pharmaceutical company in Finland and has been a co-founder of two biotech companies.
The overall goal of the research of the Jalkanen group is to elucidate the mechanisms regulating the traffic of leukocytes and cancer cells in the body. The focus is both on blood and lymphatic vasculature. Harmful leukocyte migration into the joints in rheumatoid arthritis and into the pancreas in diabetes are examples of diseases where leukocytes cause extensive destruction. These inflammatory diseases can be cured by inhibiting leukocyte trafficking. Also metastasising malignant cells often use the same mechanisms as leukocytes when extravasating from blood to different organs or migrating via the lymphatics into distant sites. The results obtained can be utilized when new types of drugs are developed to treat harmful inflammations and cancer. The group utilises the most modern imaging techniques, animal models, molecular and cell biology methods including single cell sequencing and mass cytometry and is intimately collaborating with clinicians.
I have been teaching immunology for medical students since 1981. However, my main contribution is to train PhD students and postdoctoral fellows.
- Nuclear imaging of inflammation: homing-associated molecules as targets (2013)
- EJNMMI Research
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Plasticity of Blood- and Lymphatic Endothelial Cells and Marker Identification (2013)
- PLoS ONE
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Preclinical Evaluation of a Radioiodinated Fully Human Antibody for In Vivo Imaging of Vascular Adhesion Protein-1-Positive Vasculature in Inflammation (2013)
- Journal of Nuclear Medicine
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Rapid mobilization of cytotoxic lymphocytes induced by dasatinib therapy (2013)
- Leukemia
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Therapeutic Advantage of Anti-VAP-1 Over Anti-alpha 4 Integrin Antibody in Concanavalin A-Induced Hepatitis (2013)
- Hepatology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Translating the concept of peptide labeling with 5-deoxy-5-[F-18] fluororibose into preclinical practice: F-18-labeling of Siglec-9 peptide for PET imaging of inflammation (2013)
- Chemical Communications
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Ectoenzymes controlling leukocyte traffic (2012)
- European Journal of Immunology
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Enzyme-coupled assays for simultaneous detection of nanomolar ATP, ADP, AMP, adenosine, inosine and pyrophosphate concentrations in extracellular fluids (2012)
- BBA - Molecular Cell Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Gallium-labelled peptides for imaging of inflammation (2012)
- European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Host CD73 impairs anti-tumor immunity (2012)
- OncoImmunology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Impaired ATP-Induced Coronary Blood Flow and Diminished Aortic NTPDase Activity Precede Lesion Formation in Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice (2012)
- American Journal of Pathology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Metabolism of circulating ADP in the bloodstream is mediated via integrated actions of soluble adenylate kinase-1 and NTPDase1/CD39 activities (2012)
- FASEB Journal
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Pravastatin-induced improvement in coronary reactivity and circulating ATP and ADP levels in young adults with type 1 diabetes (2012)
- Frontiers in Physiology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Principles of immune response. Lymphocyte adhesion and trafficking (2012) Clinical Immunology: Principles and Practice Jalkanen S, Salmi M
(D2 Article in a professional compilation book) - PV-1 is recognized by the PAL-E antibody and forms complexes with NRP-1 (2012)
- Blood
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Recruitment mechanisms of primary and malignant B cells to the human liver (2012)
- Hepatology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Soluble Vascular Adhesion Protein-1 Correlates With Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Early Atherosclerotic Manifestations (2012)
- Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Tumor Infiltrating Immune Cells and Outcome of Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Population-Based Study (2012)
- Clinical Cancer Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Type and location of tumor-infiltrating macrophages and lymphatic vessels predict survival of colorectal cancer patients (2012)
- International Journal of Cancer
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Altered purinergic signaling in CD73-deficient mice inhibits tumor progression (2011)
- European Journal of Immunology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)