Akseli Hemminki (

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) is a Finnish specialist in

Oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

and

Radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy (RT, RTx, or XRT) is a treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells. It is normally delivered by a linear particle ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Oncology and founder of two

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

companies.

Career

Akseli Hemminki worked in

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1969 and part of the University of Alabama System, UAB has grown to be the state's largest employer, with more than ...

in 2000-2002, first as a post doctoral researcher and later as a Research Assistant Professor. Soon after his return to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in 2002 he founded his own research group in University of Helsinki, Cancer Gene Therapy Group which he is still leading. In 2007-2013 Hemminki worked as a K. Albin Johansson Research Professor. In 2015 he was appointed as a Jane and Aatos Erkko Professor of Oncology for five years period. Akseli Hemminki has been selected as an "Outstanding Young Person of the World" by

Junior Chamber International Junior Chamber International, commonly referred to as JCI, is a non-profit international non-governmental organization of young people between and years old. It has members in about 127 countries, and regional or national organizations in mo ...

in 2006. Besides his scientific career Hemminki has worked as a physician in 1998-1999, as a resident in 2003-2007 and as a specialist in oncology since 2007 in HUS (Hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa) and Docrates Cancer Center.

Research

Akseli Hemminki’s research focuses on cancer immunotherapy and especially on

oncolytic adenovirus Adenovirus varieties have been explored extensively as a viral vector for gene therapy and also as an oncolytic virus. Of the many different viruses being explored for oncolytic potential, an adenovirus was the first to be approved by a regulator ...

es. The goal of his research group is to create a new oncolytic adenovirus based treatment for cancers with no available curative treatment at the moment. The key finding of the group is that oncolytic viruses – besides lyse tumor cells by oncolysis – trigger immune response towards the tumor. Recently, Hemminki’s group has focused on attempting to enable T-cell therapy of solid tumors with oncolytic adenoviruses. To facilitate setting up clinical trials Akseli Hemminki has founded two biotechnology companies: 2008 Oncos Therapeutics (merged with Targovax ASA in 2015) and 2013 TILT Biotherapeutics. Oncos completed the first oncolytic virus trial ever performed in Northern Europe in fall 2013. Over 300 patients have been treated with cancer drugs developed by Hemminki.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemminki, Akseli Finnish oncologists Living people 1973 births