Maxim is a research coordinator at "HUMAN BRAIN DEVELOPMENT, EVOLUTION AND NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISEASES" lab. Maxim has received his PhD in genetics from the University of Helsinki in 2010, focusing on neurotrophic factors under the guidance of Professor Saarma. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the High-Throughput Biology Unit at FIMM, University of Helsinki. Following this, Maxim was awarded the Sigrid Juselius postdoctoral fellowship in 2012, which led him to the San Raffaele Institute in Milan, Italy, where he studied in vivo reprogramming of glia into dopaminergic neurons. After returning to Finland, Maxim joined Professor Otonkoski’s team and engaged in cell reprogramming using CRISPR-activators and modeling early human caudal brain development with brain organoids. In 2019, he joined Professor Suomalainen-Wartiovaara’s team to study mitochondrial diseases using neurons derived from patients’ stem cells. In 2022, Maxim joined Takashi Namba’s group to research the metabolic vulnerabilities of human glioblastoma and the metabolic aspects of early human neurogenesis.
Maxim Bespalov
Haartmaninkatu 8
FIN-00290 Helsinki
maxim.bespalov aт helsinki.fi
PhD • January 2010
Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.
PhD supervisor – Prof. Mart Saarma.
Title: GDNF Receptors: Veterans and Novices
Master of Science • June 1998
Department of Soil Biology, Soil Science Department, Moscow State University, Russia
Research Coordinator • March 2022 - Present
I primarily work on interrogating glioblatoma metabolism, looking for the ways to find glioblastoma vulnerabilities at Takashi Namba's Lab at Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki
Cell reprogramming in vitro and in vivo (brain), human and mouse iPS cells generation and maintenance, neural stem cells and differentiation, brain organoids, CRISPR-mediated genome editing (knock-in), CRISPR/dCas9 gene induction, Ca2+ imaging (brain slices and 2D cultures), cell-based and biochemical assays development, laboratory automation and high-throughput screening, molecular cloning, lentiviruses, work with animals (including intracranial operations on living animals), microscopy (light and electron), immunological methods for molecules detection (IC, IHC, WB), protein expression and purification (E. coli, insect, mammalian), protein chemistry, radiological methods of molecules detection (including proteins iodination), gene expression analysis (RNA-seq data analysis, Northern analysis, RT-PCR, whole mount in situ hybridization), molecular simulations, docking and modeling, computational chemistry, R-language, Shiny apps .
