Minerva Foundation Symposium 2025
FROM GENETIC OBSERVATIONS TO FUNCTIONAL INSIGHT AND THERAPY DEVELOPMENT
October 23 – 24, 2025, Hanaholmen, Espoo, Finland
MINERVA FOUNDATION SYMPOSIUM 2025 – Program
Thursday 23 October
13:00 Opening of the Symposium, Vesa Olkkonen, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
SESSION I – Steatotic liver disease – Leveraging genetics for therapeutic insights
13:05 Chairperson Hannele Yki-Järvinen, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
13:10-13:35 Panu Luukkonen, Minerva Foundation Institute for medical Research
Hepatic mitochondrial reductive stress – from genetics via bench to bedside
13:40-14:15 Russell Goodman, Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital, USA
Reductive stress in steatotic liver disease – focus on GCKR
14:20-15:55 Shawn Burgess, UT Southwestern, USA
Intermediary metabolism in steatotic liver disease – focus on ACC
15:00-15:20 Sami Qadri, Minerva Foundation Institute for medical Research
Functional characterization of protective gene variants in steatotic liver disease
15:20-15:50 Coffee
SESSION II – Incretins – Bench to bedside
15:50 Chairperson Daniel Gordin, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
15:55-16:30 Petter Bjornstad, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Incretins – Gut to brain and back
16:35-17:10 David Cherney, University of Toronto, Canada
Incretins in patients with type 1 diabetes
17:15-17:50 Ian de Boer, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Incretins in the kidney guidelines 2027
18:00-19:30 Wine and snacks
Friday 24 October
SESSION III – Bone and mineral metabolism, its genetic components and therapeutic approaches
8:30 Chairperson, Heikki Koistinen, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
8:35-9:10 Wim van Hul, University of Antwerp, Belgium
The road from the discovery of sclerostin mutations to clinical applications
9:15-9:50 Harald Jüppner, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
The clinical landscape of parathormone signaling
9:55-10:20 Outi Mäkitie, Folkhälsan, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital
Monogenic osteoporosis – lessons from rare phenotypes to population health problems
10:25-10:50 Heikki Koistinen, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
Kidney stone disease and genetics of hypercalciuria
10:50-11:20 Coffee
SESSION IV – Genetics and pharmacogenetics in personalized medicine
11:20 Chairperson Miina Ollikainen, Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research
11.25-12:00 Hanna Ollila, FIMM, University of Helsinki and Stanford University, CA, USA
Genetic and functional analysis of Raynaud’s syndrome implicates loci in vasculature and immunity
12:05-12:40 Adrian Krainer, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA
Splicing defect as a cause of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA): Therapy with a splicing-correcting antisense oligonucleotide
12:40-13.30 Lunch
13.30:-13:55 Mikko Niemi, University of Helsinki
Pharmacogenetics in personalized medicine
14:00-1:25 Elisabeth Widen, FIMM, University of Helsinki
Inherited infertility – mapping loci associated with impaired female reproduction
14:30-15.30 PANEL DISCUSSION – Expensive new therapies: who invented, who profits, who can afford?
Moderator Sami Pakarinen, Helsinki University Hospital
Closing of the Symposium