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Dr. Tiina Kauppinen was the winner of the 2008 Jordi-Folch-Pi Memorial Award. Dr. Kauppinen’s research centers on the role of specific molecular signaling and effector pathways in microglial activation and their downstream impact on neuroinflammation. Her current focus is on the role of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) as a common pathway involved in neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, and neurogenesis. Her long-term goal is elucidate the mechanisms underlying neuroinflammation and the role that these processes have in CNS ischemic injury and disease. Dr. Kauppinen (right) is pictured above receiving her award. She is being presented the award by ASN President Dr. Monica Carson.

Dr. Kauppinen (maiden name Tikka) received a M.Sc. in Biotechnology from the University of Kuopio, Finland. She obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Neuroscience at the University of Kuopio. Dr. Kauppinen was a part of research group lead by Dr. Jari Koistinaho discovering the neuroprotective potential of minocycline, an antibiotic that has several anti-inflammatory functions unrelated to its anti-microbial functions. Her specific contribution was to describe minocycline’s ability to inhibit p38MAPK that may be a mechanism by which tetracycline derivatives exert a wide range of anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects. Her Ph.D. thesis work also revealed new aspects of microglial activation and proposed its contributing role in various neuropathologies. She continued her training at University of California, San Francisco as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Raymond Swanson, who introduced her to the PARP-1 field.

To date, her work has demonstrated that enzymatic activity of PARP-1 is needed for its ability to regulate inflammatory responses, including microglial activation and neurotoxicity. She also discovered that PARP-1 is phosphorylated by ERK2 and this phosphorylation is required for PARP-1 activity. She recently re-entered the minocycline research field and showed that minocycline is a potent PARP-1 inhibitor. Dr. Kauppinen is further investigating the role of PARP-1 in neuroinflammation and extending her studies to neurogenesis.

Currently, Dr. Kauppinen is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology, at the University of California, San Francisco.