From Reflection to Action

Fall 2016 has brought about many new modes of action 
By Tiina Sikanen, Group leader, Faculty of Pharmacy, UH

The Generation Green team continues to promote interaction between pharmaceutical and environmental sciences. An important collaboration project, EPIC, between the Finnish Environment Institute, the Lappeenranta University of Technology and University of Helsinki (Generation Green team) was initiated in September. The EPIC project, funded by Tekes – The Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation and 11 other funders from public and private sectors, aims at efficient treatment of pharmaceutical waste at primary sources, such as hospitals, and pilots new technology for purification of pharmaceuticals from waste waters. The Generation Green team is happy to participate by bringing in a “pharmaceutical touch” to the project.

During the fall, we have also initiated closer cooperation with the Alumni Association of the University of Helsinki in terms of fund raising and other modes of societal interaction. Since spring 2016, you have also been able to follow our latest news via a new Generation Green blog series at Apteekkari.fi. The previous entries can be browsed here.

For the time being, the Generation Green team prepares for the research seminar ‘Pharmaceuticals in the Environment – From Troublemakers Toward Bening by Design’ which is to take place on Wed-Fri 9-11 Nov in Helsinki. We are honored to host the renowned experts in the field, including Prof. Dr. Klaus Kümmerer from Leuphana University, Germany, Prof. Tanel Tenson from University of Tartu, Estonia, and Dr. Bengt Mattson from Pfizer, Sweden. The keynote lectures by these international experts are further complemented by those of national lead researchers. As a whole, a two-day programme targeting environmental aspects of pharmaceuticals is ahead of us. Looking forward to inspiring discussions between the experts and up to 60 preregistered participants! More news from the seminar will be posted here in due time.