Young investigators of the month
The Young Investigator of the Month honor at FIMM is a monthly highlight of a FIMM PhD student or postdoctoral researcher for a recent significant accomplishment.
2023 YIM Honorees
May 2023 - Tommi Strausz

Congratulations to Tommi Strausz for his recent publication in Sleep!

Tommi Strausz, Satu Strausz, FinnGen, et al. Genetic analysis of probable sleep bruxism and its associations with clinical and behavioral traits. Sleep. 2023

Tommi is a dentist clinician and a doctoral researcher in Hanna Ollila’s group. Tommi's doctoral research focuses on the genetic determinants of sleep bruxism. The main aim of his PhD research is to look at sleep bruxism, a common but complex disorder with many associations, through genetic methods. In his analyses, he has utilised questionnaire, medical record and genetic data in several longitudinal population cohorts, including FinnGen and the UK Biobank, to scrutinise factors associated with sleep bruxism. He is working on applying advanced epidemiological methods such as Mendelian randomization, to untangle the complex web of cause and effect regarding this disorder and related illnesses and comorbidities. During his PhD project Tommi’s interest in (dental) sleep medicine has increased, and he is hoping to expand and implement that knowledge in his clinical work. Tommi enjoys personal development and his family. 

April 2023 - Tuomo Hartonen

Congratulations to Tuomo Hartonen for his recent publication in Nature Human Behaviour!

Hartonen T, Jermy B, Sõnajalg H, et al. Nationwide health, socio-economic and genetic predictors of COVID-19 vaccination status in Finland. Nat. Hum. Behav. 2023

Tuomo is a post-doctoral researcher at the Data Science and Genetic Epidemiology lab (https://www.dsgelab.org/) at FIMM led by associate professor Andrea Ganna and in the INTERVENE-EU project (https://www.interveneproject.eu/). During his PhD, Tuomo developed bioinformatics methods and machine learning models to help understand the role of transcription factor-DNA binding in regulation of gene expression. His research currently focuses on leveraging modern machine learning and high-throughput epidemiology methods to address public health issues using rich data from national registries and biobanks. He is also interested in the application and development of explainable AI techniques. In his free time he likes to do all things related to beach volleyball.

March 2023 - Michaela Feodoroff

Congratulations to Michaela Feodoroff for publishing three 1st-author papers in a couple of months: 1. SLAS Discovery, 2. Molecular Therapy Oncolytics, and 3. SLAS Discovery

 

1. Michaela Feodoroff, Piia Mikkonen, Mariliina Arjama, et al. Protocol for 3D drug sensitivity and resistance testing of patient-derived cancer cells in 384-well plates. SLAS Discov. Nov 2022.

2. Firas Hamdan*, Michaela Feodoroff*, Salvatore Russo, et al. Controlled release of enhanced cross-hybrid IgGA Fc PD-L1 inhibitors using oncolytic adenoviruses. Mol. Ther. Oncolytics. Feb 2023

3. Michaela Feodoroff, Piia Mikkonen, Laura Turunen, et al. Comparison of two supporting matrices for patient-derived cancer cells in 3D drug sensitivity and resistance testing assay (3D-DSRT). SLAS Discov. March 2023

 

Michaela is a doctoral researcher in Vilja Pietiäinen's team, under Olli Kallioniemi group (FIMM), and Vincenzo Cerullo´s (UH/Faculty of Pharmacy, supervised by Mikaela Grönholm) group with co-supervision from clinician Antti Rannikko (UH/HUS). Her research focuses on discovering novel, enhanced immunotherapeutic treatments for urological solid tumors, and her research is part of the iCAN Flagship subproject on complex immuno-organoids. In her research she´s using 3D cell models, clinically relevant drug compounds and oncolytic adenoviruses. Currently, her work focuses on immune system-mediated control of tumor growth and disease progression under the umbrella of precision and translational cancer medicine. In her free time, she enjoys sports and to spend time with friends.

February 2023 - Anniina Tervi

Congratulations to Anniina Tervi for her recent publication in Human Molecular Genetics

Tervi A, Junna N, Broberg M, et al. Large registry-based analysis of genetic predisposition to tuberculosis identifies genetic risk factors at HLA. Hum. Mol. Genet. 2023

Anniina's doctoral research focuses on the genetic determinants of myalgic encephalotitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) at the population level in the Ollila group. One of the main aims of her PhD research is to understand the complex relationships between ME/CFS and infectious diseases, psychiatric traits, and dysautonomia. In her analyses, she has utilised questionnaire, medical record and genetic data in several longitudinal population cohorts, including FinnGen and the UK Biobank, to identify genetic factors associated with these conditions. She is working on applying advanced epidemiological methods such as Mendelian randomization, to untangle the complex web of cause and effect in these disorders and related illnesses and comorbidities. In her spare time Anniina is an enthusiastic reader and book collector, hiker and a little bit of a painter.

January 2023 - Pyry Helkkula

Congratulations to Pyry Helkkula for his recent publication in Communication Biology

Helkkula P, Hassan S, Saarentaus E, et al. Genome-wide association study of varicose veins identifies a protective missense variant in GJD3 enriched in the Finnish population. Commun Biol. 2023

During his doctoral studies in statistical genetics in the Ripatti group, Pyry has tried to identify novel links between gene function and risk of cardiometabolic disorders, and find new ways to increase the probability of such discoveries. Firstly, he has leveraged the Finnish protein-coding variant enrichment and longitudinal population cohorts with rich phenotype data. Secondly, in his analyses, he has used existing and novel medication-based intermediary phenotypes that inform the likelihood of developing cardiometabolic disorders. Apart from medical research and trying to identify patterns in complex phenomena in general, Pyry enjoys doing a variety of sports and spending time with friends and family.

Previous YIM honorees
  • January: Jarno Kettunen
  • February: Heidi Hautakangas
  • March: Anil Kumar
  • April: Gabin Drouard
  • May: Alina Malyutina & Dimitrios Tsallos
  • June: Lea Urpa
  • August: Weikaixin Kong
  • September: Sanni Ruotsalainen
  • October: Aleksanteri Asikainen
  • November/December: Jadwiga Buchwald, Michaela Feodoroff, Heidi Hautakangas, Weikaixin Kong, Vesa Rahkama, Adithi Sundaresh, Zhiyang Wang
  • January: Shabbeer Hassan
  • February: Sanni Ruotsalainen
  • March: Dmitrii Bychko
  • April: Alyce Whipp
  • May: Vasudha Ahuja
  • June: Pyry Helkkula
  • August: Minxia Liu
  • September: Tianduanyi Wang
  • October: Paula Iso-Markku, Mattia Cordioli, Aleksandr Ianevski & Marjo Nuottamo
  • November: Meri Kaustio
  • December: Disha Malani
  • January: Aleksandr Ianevski, Doctoral student, Group Aittokallio
  • February: Tuomo Kiiskinen, Doctoral student, Group Ripatti/ Palotie
  • March: Yevhen Akimov, Doctoral student, Group Aittokallio
  • April: Elina Parri, Doctoral student, Group Wennerberg
  • May: Nina Mars, Postdoctoral researcher, Group Ripatti
  • June: Sebastian Stenman, Doctoral student, Group Lundin
  • September: Disha Malani, Doctoral student, Group Kallioniemi
  • October: Satu Strausz, Doctoral student, Group Ripatti / Tuula Palotie
  • December: Liye He, Postdoctoral researcher, Group Aittokallio
  • February: Suvi Virtanen, Doctoral Student, Group Latvala
  • April: Emma Cazaly, Postdoctoral Researcher, Group Ollikainen
  • May: Oscar Holmström, Doctoral student, Group Lundin
  • June: Bulat Zagidullin, Doctoral student, Group Tang
  • July: Alina Malyutina, Doctoral student, Group Tang/ Heckman
  • September: Sarang Talwelkar, Doctoral student, Group Verschuren/ Wennerberg
  • October: Sailalitha Bollepalli, Doctoral student, Group Ollikainen/ Kaprio
  • November: Rubina Tabassum, Postdoctoral researcher, Group Ripatti
  • December: Jie Bao, Doctoral student, Group Verschuren/ Horvath
  • January: Ashwini Kumar, Doctoral Student, Group Heckman
  • February: Sami Blom, Doctoral Student, Group Kallioniemi
  • March: Heikki Kuusanmäki, Doctoral Student, Group Heckman (FIMM) and Satu Mustjoki (HRUH)
  • April: Andrew Erickson, Doctoral Student, Group Mirtti
  • May: Mehreen Ali, Doctoral Student, Group Aitokallio
  • June: Kauko Heikkilä, Doctoral Student, Group Kaprio/Vuoksimaa
  • August: Komal Kumar Javarappa, Postdoctoral Researcher, Group Heckman
  • September: Alyce Whipp, Doctoral Student, Group Kaprio/Vuoksimaa/ Korhonen
  • December: Jaakko Leinonen, Doctoral Student, Group Widén
  • January: Disha Malani, PhD Student, Group Kallioniemi
  • February: Ashwini Nagaraj, PhD Student, Group Verschuren
  • March: Maija Puhka, Postdoctoral Researcher, Groups Kallioniemi and Groop
  • April: Himanshu Chheda, FIMM-EMBL Doctoral Student, Groups Ripatti and Aitokallio
  • May: Jenni Lahtela, Postdoctoral Researcher, FIMM Technology Centre Single Cell Analytics unit
  • June: Muntasir Mamun Majumder, FIMM-EMBL Doctoral Student, Group Heckman
  • July: Balaguru Ravikumar, FIMM-EMBL Doctoral Student, Group Aittokallio
  • August: Alok Jaiswal, FIMM-EMBL Doctoral Student, Group Aittokallio
  • September: Riikka Karjalainen, Doctoral Student, Group Heckman
  • October: Sini Kerminen, Doctoral Student, Groups Pirinen and Ripatti
  • November: Jarno Kivioja, Doctoral Student, Group Heckman
  • December: Anna Cichonska, FIMM-EMBL/HIIT Doctoral Student, Groups Aittokallio and Pirinen (FIMM) and Rousu (HIIT)
  • January: Bhagwan Yadav, PhD student, Group Aittokallio
  • February: John Patrick Mpindi, PhD student, Group Kallioniemi
  • March: Katja Närhi, Postdoctoral Researcher, Group Verschuren
  • April: Anna Cichonska, FIMM-EMBL/HIIT PhD Student, Groups Aittokallio (FIMM), Pirinen (FIMM), and Rousu (HIIT)
  • May: Dmitrii Bychkov, FIMM-EMBL/HIIT PhD Student, Group Lundin
  • June: Khalid Saaed, PhD Student, Group Kallioniemi
  • July: Prson Gautam, PhD Student, Group Wennerberg
  • August: Pietari Ripatti, PhD Student, Group Ripatti
  • September: Samuli Eldfors, PhD Student, Group Heckman
  • October: Suleiman Ali Khan, Postdoctoral Researcher, Group Aittokallio
  • November: Yu Fu, Master's student, Group Kainov
  • December: Poojitha Ojamies, PhD Student, Group Kallioniemi
  • October: Luca Trotta, PhD student, Group Saarela
  • November: Arjan van Adrichem, PhD student, Group Wennerberg
  • December: Anna Aakula, PhD student, Group Kallioniemi