I am an experimental immunologist, trained in clinical gastroenterology and rheumatology. My scientific research is focused on (mucosal) immunology and translational medicine, autoimmune diseases – particularly celiac disease, mechanisms of tolerance to intestinal antigens (food, microbial and self-proteins), immune regulation, vaccinology, and rodent disease models. I studied medicine at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and obtained a medical doctorate in Martin Stern’s laboratory in pediatric gastroenterology. I did post-docs in Detlef Schuppan’s group in the Gastroenterology Division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Boston, Massachusetts, and in Seppo Meri’s group in the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of Helsinki, Finland. I was a visiting researcher in the laboratory of Grete Sonderstrup and Hugh McDevitt, Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford School of Medicine, California. With my research, I co-developed mouse models of celiac disease, tolerogenic gliadin nanoparticles for the treatment of celiac disease (now in clinical phase IIb), and an adenovirus-vectored, nasal vaccine against Sars-CoV-2. Since 2022, I am associated as principal investigator to the Translational Immunology Research Program at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, studying and developing therapeutic immune tolerance induction.
Eva holds a PhD in biological sciences from the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy in Wroclaw, Poland, where she investigated the role of the O-specific region length of lipopolysaccharide in complement evasion mechanisms of Salmonella bacteria. Since 2021, Eva studies T cell mediated immunity directed at SARS-CoV-2 in a consortium project with the Finnish National Public Health Institute, funded by the Academy of Finland. In addition, she investigates mechanisms of immune tolerance induction in collaboration with industry (celiac disease) and academic partners (narcolepsy type 1; Steve Miller's research group, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA).
Victoria joined our lab from the Veterinary Faculty, University of Helsinki, to work on her PhD thesis entitled "Development of an in vivo intestinal permeability test to refine the use of mouse models in research".
Luise joined our lab from the University of Tübingen, Germany, where she studied Molecular Medicine, to work on her bachelor thesis entitled "Development of a T cell assay to measure cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2".
Cecilia joined our lab from the University of Turku, Finland, where she studied Drug Discovery and Development, to work on her master thesis entitled "The HLA transgenic mouse as a model system for celiac disease therapy development".