Thestra Ltd. strengthens its operations. Thestra and University of Turku have signed an agreement which will furnish Thestra with high-end laboratory premises at the Turku Bioscience Centre. In this same context Thestra is pleased to welcome PhD Mari Peltola as a Senior Scientist to manage Thestra´s R&D operations.
The agreement between University of Turku and Thestra will further speed up the developments at Thestra by enabling Thestra to utilize the recognized, high-end facilities of the Turku Bioscience Centre. The agreement includes basically everything that a recently established company like Thestra will need for its R&D operations. Therefore, Thestra wants to express its gratitude for the agreement and related cooperation to University of Turku. Thestra´s team has recently been strengthened by Mari Peltola, PhD from the University of Turku. She has a long experience in working in different types of R&D positions e.g. at Wallac and Labmaster. Her expertise includes establishing a new diagnostic measurement method for a biomarker, transfer to production of new IVD products, and cooperation in international university based diagnostic projects. We are excited about these important developments and warmly welcome Mari to team Thestra.
About
Thestra is a cancer diagnostics spin-out company from the University of Turku based on the long-term cooperation between the researchers of the University of Turku and the Turku University Central Hospital together with the AURIA biobank. Thestra develops a product that could be used to identify head and neck cancer patients whose disease could be cured with treatments that cause fewer side effects. Head and neck cancer (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer and is annually diagnosed in approximately 1 million new patients globally. The product developed by Thestra, EPLINEX™, offers a unique diagnostic solution for head and neck cancer patients, which could be used to identify the aggressiveness of head and neck cancer in the early stage of the disease.
The basic research on which EPLINEx™ is based has been supported by funding from the Academy of Finland and the Erkko Foundation, and the technology has been further refined before the company was founded with Business Finland’s” Research-to-Business” (R2B) funding.