The 5th Scandinavian Blood-brain barrier symposium (SBBN) entitled “Brain Drug Delivery Methods & Models to Study Brain Diseases” was organized at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio on 19-20 January, 2023. The symposium was organized by the School of Pharmacy together with the Doctoral Programmes in Drug Research (DPDR) and Molecular Medicine (DPMM).
The scientific programme included lectures on models to study different brain diseases by Professor Tarja Malm and Dr. Šárka Lehtonen, as well as on brain drug delivery of small molecules via transporters by Visiting Professor Tetsuya Terasaki and Professor Jarkko Rautio.
In addition, Professor Emerita Margareta Hammarlund-Udenaes from Uppsala University and Professor Pirjo Laakkonen from the University of Helsinki lectured on brain/tumour drug delivery of peptides. Professor Vincent Prevot from the University of Lille and Dr. Christoffer Bundgaard from Lundbeck gave lectures on brain drug delivery principles and pathways, and Professor Birger Brodin from the University of Copenhagen on models to study brain drug delivery. In addition, there were 17 short presentations and posters in total presented by Ph.D. students from different universities.
In total, this fascinating topic attracted a lot of participants; ca. 80 attendees from 10 different universities or industrial organizations. the organizing committee would like to thank all the sponsors, especially the Faculty of Health Sciences and NordicPOP Consortium for making this event alive!
