I am a group leader in the Neuroscience Center of the Helsinki Institute of Life Science at the University of Helsinki and a visiting researcher at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and affiliate senior scientist at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM). I received my doctorate in molecular genetics at the University of Helsinki. I continued as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University with Professor Kevin Eggan (dept. of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology) and at the Broad Institute.
In 2020, I started as a Senior Scientist and a Group Leader at the HILiFE Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki. An expert in complex disease genetics and functional genomics, I have co-led large patient sample collections and leads the research group for Genomics of Human Brain Disorders.
Staff Scientist
My background is in genetics and evolutionary biology, and the past ten year I’ve been mainly working in projects focusing on genetic underpinnings of mental disorders, including anxiety, phobias and schizophrenia. I have wide scientific training ranging from wet lab experimental biology and bioinformatics.
I currently focus on bioinformatics and sequence data analysis from single cell and bulk experiments in human iPSC-derived neurons and publicly available data. On the side I also work on genetic analysis using patient cohorts and population data from the FinnGen study. Using genomic readouts from genetically characterized human cells, I aim to discover biological mechanisms of several high-risk variants associated with schizophrenia. The findings from the genomic analysis are followed up in wet-lab experimental biology that provide an excellent counterbalance for my computational work.
I started as laboratory coordinator in Pietiläinen group beginning of 2025. As a Medical Laboratory Technologist I have long experience working in Academic World, mainly in biomedical research.
I have also Master’s in Health Management Sciences. This gives me great tools for managing Pietiläinen group´s daily-basis actions in the lab.
I have worked many years with the human derived iPS-cells, neuronal differentiation and even with the cortical 3D models. Now when in the wet lab I am dealing with the human derived iPSC and iPSC-derived neuronal models, we use FinnGen study and SUPER study materials.
Karita Salo is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on deciphering the health impact of antipsychotic medication usage patterns. She received her doctoral degree from Aalto University, where she studied effective connectivity using transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalogram. She has also worked as a medical physics resident at HUS and as a data scientist and biostatistician at Helsinki Biobank and the private sector for several years.
PhD Researcher
I am a PhD student with an MSc in genetics and molecular biosciences. My research focuses on understanding mechanisms underlying neuronal network defects in schizophrenia. Specifically, I use microfluidic cell cultures for reconstructing neuronal networks in genetically characterized neurons.
In addition, I am currently using the microfluidic devices for studying localized transcriptomics in iPSC-derived neurons. I aim to illuminate the synaptic pathology in schizophrenia.
PhD Researcher
I am a doctoral researcher in the Pietiläinen Group, in the doctoral program of Brain and Mind. I hold a master’s degree in bioinformatics and digital health from Aalto University. I am particularly interested in the health implications and biological mechanisms in mental disorders.
My research focuses in applying computational tools to explore the clinical and cellular features that correlate with genetic risk for schizophrenia. To achieve this, I utilize clinical register data from the FinnGen study and SUPER study of genetic mechanisms of psychosis in Finland, as well as transcriptomic data from human iPSC-derived neuronal models.
PhD Researcher
I'm a fifth-year PhD student working in collaboration between the groups of Jari Koistinaho and Olli Pietiläinen. My work focuses on studying cellular mechanisms of schizophrenia using human iPSC-derived neurons in co-cultures with astrocytes. I use a neuronal differentiation protocol based on NGN2-overexpression coupled with cortical patterning. These neurons develop functional synapses and network-level activity in co-cultures with human or rodent astrocytes. So far, I have investigated the role of neurons and astrocytes in functional and synapse-related alterations in schizophrenia using patient-derived iPSCs.
PhD Researcher
I am a doctoral researcher working with human iPSC-derived neuronal disease modelling of rare intellectual disability and schizophrenia variants identified in the Northern Finnish Intellectual Disability cohort. In my current project I study the role of a transcription modulator gene INTS6 in the cellular pathophysiology of intellectual disability. I use multifaceted approaches, including transcriptomics, functional genomics, and gene editing combined with molecular cell biology to decipher the mechanisms driving defects in gene regulation and their role in neurodevelopmental disorders.
PhD Researcher
I have a background in biochemistry and human genetics, and am currently pursuing a PhD in the groups of Olli Pietiläinen and Aarno Palotie. My doctoral research focuses on uncovering the effects of rare deleterious schizophrenia risk variants through the analysis of plasma proteomic data from patient samples, and development of iPSC-based neuron/astrocyte models from risk variant-carrying patient lines. In addition, I am studying the effects of prevalent antipsychotic medications on patients’ blood protein levels. My research seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the molecular effects of heritable and environmental factors linked to schizophrenia.
I am a research assistant, to which I transitioned in spring 2025 after working here as a summer trainee in 2022-2023 and as a part-time research assistant in 2024. I also completed my Master’s thesis work here, investigating the localized neurite transcriptome of rat cortical neurons using a microfluidic device and obtaining my Master’s degree in Genetics and Molecular Biosciences from the University of Helsinki in spring 2025. I have a longstanding interest in the cellular mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders, which I have explored and deepened while in the group. Being a research assistant provides me with many opportunities to gain skills and experience working in academia.
Currently, my work supports the exploration of synaptic pathology in schizophrenia using microfluidic devices as well as the development of a human iPSC-based neuronal model of psychotic disorders utilizing material from the Finnish SUPER study.
I am a research assistant in the Pietiläinen group since spring 2024, with an M.Sc. in Neuroscience from the University of Trieste and a B.Sc. in molecular biology from the University of Padova. Being interested in neuropsychiatric disorders, I started by pursuing my thesis at the University of Helsinki, focusing on investigating the role of heparan sulfate in synapses and schizophrenia pathophysiology, using human iPSC-derived neurons.
In the Pietiläinen group, my main role is to support the investigation of synaptic pathology in schizophrenia utilizing microfluidic devices. Additionally, my current research focus is to utilize microfluidic devices to guide the directionality of human iPSC-derived neurons and rat primary neurons.
I am a second-year master’s student in neuroscience completing my thesis in the Pietiläinen group. I hold a bachelor’s degree in cell and molecular biosciences and am now focusing on computational approaches to studying the nervous system, with a particular interest in psychiatric disorders.
My current work involves analyzing phenotypic data from the SUPER study to identify patterns linking early life adversities with endpoints related to psychosis diagnoses. By integrating the rich Finnish clinical register data with polygenic risk scores, I aim to generate new insights into the onset and development of psychotic disorders.
Postdoctoral Fellow (Alumnus)
HANDE, a computational scientist with Ph.D. in statistical genetics, focused on RNA- sequence data analysis to understand genomic mechanism of male-female differences in gene expression using data from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hIPSCs) and derived neuronal cells from over 150 donors. By applying multifaceted statistical approaches and leveraging the de-repression of X chromosome inactivation that takes place in female hiPSCs, Hande explored the role of the X chromosome in regulating gene expression in autosomes and genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.