Draft:Jukka Westermarck

Jukka Kristian Westermarck (born in 1969, Lehtimäki, Finland) is a Professor of Cancer Biology, and a Research Director at Turku Bioscience Centre in University of Turku (Finland). Westermarck completed his medical studies (MD) in 1996, and got his PhD in 1998 from University of Turku. In 1999-2001 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany). After returning back to Finland, he worked as an Academy Research Fellow, and established his own research group in Turku Centre for Biotechnology (current Turku Bioscience Centre). In 2006-2009 he was also a Group leader in the Institute of Medical Technology in University of Tampere (Finland). In 2009 he was appointed to his current posts in University of Turku, however he was on leave until 2017 after receiving a position as a Research Professor of Finnish Cancer Institute three periods in a row. Later on, he has worked as a Visiting Professor in two foreign research institutes, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, USA) in 2012 and The FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology (Milan, Italy) in 2022. Throughout his entire career, Westermarck has focused in cancer cell signaling. His particular focus has been on the role of protein phosphatases in cancer. His research group is one of the global leaders on the studies concerning the role and regulation of Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) in cancer and in cancer therapy responses. His research group is particularly known for discovering an oncogenic PP2A inhibitor protein CIP2A, which has an important role in many human cancer types. The long-term goal of the group is to develop new methods for cancer treatment and diagnosis that are based on biology of phosphatases. Westermarck has several granted patents related to this topic, and he is co-founder of a start-up company Thestra Ltd. that is focused on cancer diagnostics. In 2007, Westermarck was rewarded with Young Investigator prize by The Finnish Medical Society Duodecim, and in 2009 with Anders Jahre young investigator prize by University of Oslo. In 2020, the President of Finland awarded him a decoration of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland. In 2022, Orion Research Foundation granted him Orion Research Prize for carrying out internationally significant research and actively advocating for better conditions for doing research.

Westermarck has been a member of Finnish Academy of Science and Letters since 2017, and a board member of this society in 2021-2023. Since 2013 he has been the Ambassador of European Association for Cancer Research (EACR), and was nominated as a board member of EACR for the period of 2022-2025. He also was one of the founders of Finnish Brain Tumor Research Association (FiBTRA). Westermarck has played a crucial role in establishing the Finnish Drug Discovery Center Ltd, and been acting as a Member of the Board of Directors in the center since 2023.

Westermarck keeps ”Tiede edellä” blog (”Science first”), and actively communicates about science in other social media channels.