A word with Jukka Westermarck

Q: How did you get interested in this field of research?

A: Like very often in research, this was co-incidence driven by curiosity. I had just started a MD/PhD study under supervision of professor of dermatology Veli-Matti Kähäri and he was interested in role of phosphorylation-dependent signaling in regulation of extracellular matrix turnover especially by cancer cells. He wanted me to test cyclosporin-A which was just introduced as a skin disease relevant immunosuppressant targeting phosphatase calcineurin, but also in parallel to use novel tumor promoter Okadaic acid targeting PP1/PP2A phosphatases. Results with okadaic acid were so interesting that we decided to focus on it for my PhD work. The first paper was published year 1994, and ever since role of PP2A in cancer has been in the focus of my scientific interests.

Q: How often are therapeutic concepts on your mind at work?

A: Everyday. Even though most of our project addresses fairly basic research questions I have always felt that is important to continuously evaluate their potential implications to either therapy or diagnostics of the cancer patients. This probably relates to my training as a MD and I am very happy that I can utilize that training if not by directly working with patients, but by trying to develop patient relevant outcomes from our basic research.

Q: Sauna or beach?

A: Sauna, absolutely!! There is no better way to relax and be out of reach of the rest of the world (and e-mail, Twitter etc.) than sitting our wood-heated summer cabin sauna and staring out of the window to open sea at Turku archipelago. Sauna combined with a dip to the fresh sea or lake water is what I dream about during the long winter months and enjoy the entire season from the first days when the sea is open after the winter until it is frozen again.