People

List of current and past lab members
Mikko Myllymäki

Mikko Myllymäki, MD, PhD, is a Principal Investigator at the Faculty of Medicine and an affiliated Principal Investigator in the Translational Immunology Research Program (TRIMM), Research Programs Unit, University of Helsinki. He currently works as an Academy of Finland Clinical Research fellow. He is also specialising in clinical hematology at HUS Helsinki University Hospital/University of Helsinki. After graduating from University of Oulu, Finland, in 2016, he did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, where he studied how telomere length and germline predisposition affect stem cell transplantation outcomes in myelodysplastic syndrome.

Miro Nylén

Miro Nylén, B.Med, is an MD/PhD student at the University Helsinki and an undergraduate bioinformatics student at Aalto University. His research is focused on investigating the clinical impact of clonal hematopoiesis on inherited and acquired disease conditions.

Emil Hiitola

Emil Hiitola, PhD student. After carrying out his Master's thesis work in the lab (graduated with honors from Aalto University in 2024), Emil has continued his work focusing on the role of clonal hematopoiesis in inflammatory diseases. iCANDOC PhD program participant.

Konstantin Matjusinski

Konstantin Matjusinski, B.Sc., is wrapping up his Master's thesis project on leveraging genome-wide CRISPR screens to study monocyte/macrophage function in inflammatory diseases. Starting January 2025, Konsta will continue as PhD student in the iCANDOC PhD student program. Before joining the team, he studied the role of transcription factor Prox1 in radiation resistance and investigated the role of beta integrins and sharpin signalling pathways in maintaining vascular homeostasis. 

Anne Ruosteoja

Anne Ruosteoja, B.Sc., is a Master's thesis student in the Translational Medicine Master's thesis program. Anne is developing cell-based assays to understand monocyte/macrophage function in inflammatory diseases.

Megan Qin Deng

Megan Qin Deng, B.A. Megan did her BA degree at Boston University, USA. Currently working in the lab as a Master's thesis student in the Translational Medicine (University of Helsinki), while also starting her MD studies at University of Tartu, Estonia.  

Juuso Vedenjuoksu

Juuso Vedenjuoksu is an MD/PhD student at the University Helsinki. His research is focused on finding predictors of myeloid malignancies in large population-level cohorts.

Alumni

Rafeul Hasan, M.Sc. Did his Master's thesis project at University of Helsinki (2024) focused on evaluating whether germline factors predisposing to clonal hematopoiesis are associated with inflammatory diseases. Currently a Project Researcher at University of Tampere.

Daehong Kim, Ph.D. Originally from Seoul, Korea. During his PhD studies (graduated in 2022) in the lab, Daehong explored the functional consequences of somatic mutations in hematologic malignancies and related autoimmune diseases. Currently a Postdoctoral Scientist at the Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich.

Milla Alakuijala, M.Sc. finalised her Master's degree at Aalto University (2022) when she worked on detecting clonal hematopoiesis using novel variant calling methods while combining her interests in medicine, bioinformatics, and computer science.  Currently an MD student at the University of Helsinki.

Juuso Korhonen, B.Sc. Performed genetic analyses related to the FINRISK study while working in the lab as a Master's student in Computer Science at Aalto University.