Saija got her PhD on photosynthesis research at the University of Turku in 2002, and became an independent group leader focusing on plant stress signaling in 2009. In September 2020 she was appointed as an Associate Professor in Translational Plant Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Her position is shared between the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences and the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. Saija is also the director of the Masters Programme in Integrative Plant Sciences.
You can find Saija at:
Viikki Biocenter 3, 5th floor, Office 5318
or
Building B, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Office 120
Moona got her PhD on plant defence and stress signalling at the University of Turku in 2018. In her research, she studied the post-translational regulation of plant stress responses with focus on the protein phosphatase 2A and organellar signalling. During her first post-doc period at the University of Turku, she dived into a new topic and investigated the potential of edible macroalga of the Baltic Sea as raw material for food and feed applications. Currently, she works as an Academy of Finland post-doc fellow and is interested in how plants integrate stress responses with their developmental program. More specifically, she investigates how plant seedlings cope with stress induced mitochondrial dysfunction.
You can find Moona at:
Viikki Biocenter 3, 6th floor
ChiChuan earned her PhD in phylogenetics and evolutionary biology from the University of Helsinki in 2022. Her work focuses on understanding plant species relationships and biodiversity in tropical and subtropical regions. In her previous role at the University of Turku, she researched the hybridization of Amazonian ferns using target enrichment data and bioinformatics methods. Her main interests include biodiversity, evolution, and ethnobotany. In 2024, she joined the Crop Light team and is collaborating with Arctic Farming Oy to identify ethnobotanical plants that can thrive in hydroponic systems and help develop improved nutrient solutions.
You can find ChiChuan at:
Viikki Biocenter 3, 6th floor
Yuliia Makliuk is a grant funded doctoral researcher from Ukraine. She got her PhD degree in the area of Radiobiology in 2009 year in the area of Radiobiology (subject of research – radioecology of small mammals) from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine). Last position in Ukraine was a senior researcher in the Chornobyl Center in Kyiv region. She conducted research in the Chernobyl zone on radioecology, studied species diversity, trends for natural complexes, and factors affecting the development of biocenosis. After obtaining local funding from the “reception of researchers affected by the Ukraine conflict” program in November 2022, Yuliia worked as a post-doctoral researcher in Institute of Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), Valencia Spain. Most part of researches focused on the effect of the hormone auxin on the root system of Arabidopsis.
Yuliia has joined Crop Light laboratory on February 2025. She is working under the research topic is “Toward energy-efficient indoor farming: kale photobiology and human nutrition”. She will estimate kale productivity as well as post-harvest senescence and fungal resistance.
Arttu joined Crop Light at the end of 2021 after finishing his master’s studies in horticultural science at the University of Helsinki. He is interested in the interfaces between applied plant biology and horticultural technology and is now working on his PhD on leveraging the properties of artificial light in advanced indoor plant production systems. Arttu’s general topics of interest include e.g. greenhouses, vertical farms/plant factories, LED-technology, photobiology, imaging technologies, plant phenotyping, and greenhouse control and automation systems.
You can find Arttu at:
Building B, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Office 117
Ilona graduated with her Master’s degree from the University of Turku in 2020 and got accepted in the doctoral programme of plant sciences at the University of Helsinki in 2021. She is currently working as a Doctoral researcher, focusing on the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in stress signalling in disease resistance and senescence. She aims to translate her basic knowledge to indoor cultivation and resolve how lighting affects disease resistance in kale cultivars.
You can find Ilona at:
Viikki Biocenter 3, 6th floor
Julia got her PhD on chemistry at the Moscow State University in 2003 with specialization in protein chemistry and enzymology. During her postdoctoral research she focused on stress response and signaling in plants using biochemical and proteomics methods. Julia got a title of Docent in plant physiology and plant molecular biology at the University of Helsinki in 2011. Now she works as a University researcher in the group of Maija Sierla studying stress signaling in plants and the role of protein post-translational modifications in signaling pathways.
You can find Julia at:
Viikki Biocenter 3, 6th floor
Hiro got his PhD on Bioinformatics and Genome research from Bielefeld University in 2007. During his research career, he has been interested in understanding the mechanisms of plant growth. In his previous research at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, he investigated the regulation of carbon allocation to plant growth during the diel light/dark cycle. His experimental approach included use of 13CO2 labelling combined with liquid or gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. From 2021, Hiro Joined Crop Light to investigate how different type of light spectrum change quality of leafy vegetables using system-oriented approaches and multilevel “omics” as tools. In 2025 he moved to the research group of Prof. Pirjo Mäkelä to further develop indoor farming.
You can find Hiro at the Department of Agricultural Sciences
Alexis got his PhD on redox metabolism and development of ornamental plants at the University of Angers (France) in 2020. Thereafter he changed his research topic and developed new weed control methods based on physical treatments for one year as post-doctoral fellow at the Pascal Institute (Clermont-Ferrand, France). At the end of 2021Alexis joined Crop Light to work on plant stress with focus on stress recovery. His project tackles mitochondria-plasma membrane interactions and their post-translational control in mitochondrial stress signaling.
in summer 2024 Alexis got a position and returned to the University of Angers.