Karita received her Master's degree in biology/microbiology from the University of Helsinki Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences and her doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine. She continued her research as post doctoral fellow at University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands amd has been working as a senior fellow in Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, US. Her current special research interests are on microbial innate immune evasion and the role of complement system in inflammatory diseases.
Pavel completed his PhD in physiology at the University of Helsinki in 2010. His thesis was dedicated to mechanisms of the transcriptional regulation of the neuronal K-Cl cotransporter KCC2, which is critical for GABAergic inhibition in the central nervous system. Pavel uses a broad spectrum of molecular biology and biochemical methods, imaging techniques as well as various cell culture and in vivo mouse approaches. His current interest is in the role of the complement system in the development of Alzheimer’s disease
Eija received her Master's degree and her doctorate from the University of Oulu. Her current special research interests are on the role of complement system in atherosclerosis.
Shahan received his PhD at the University of Helsinki in 2024. In his PhD (supervised by PhD Haapasalo and Prof Seppo Meri) he showed that pneumococcal toxins can trigger vascular damage, modify HDL particles and antibodies against pneumococcal toxin associates with reduced inflammation in atherosclerosis patients. He is especially interested to study Streptococcal virulence. The pathogen that fascinates him most is Streptococcus pneumoniae. He aims to contribute to a better understanding of the virulence and immune evasion by Streptococci.
Päivi Ylä-Anttila received her PhD at the University of Helsinki in 2015. She have been working as a post doc at the Karolinska Institutet, Stocholm, Sweden and at the University of Turku, Finland. She started as a post doc in Inflammation and Infections group from the beginning of 2025.
Lilith received her Master's degree in microbiology from the University of Helsinki in 2023. In her Master's thesis (supervised By PhD Haapasalo and PhD Uvarov) she studied the antimicrobial effects of beta-Amyloid and received a stipend for scientifically high-quality Master's thesis approved at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. In 2024 she was selected into the doctoral education pilot at the University of Helsinki.
Supervised by Karita Haapasalo. Larisa completed her specialist degree in 2015 at Saint Petersburg Chemical-Pharmaceutical Academy. Her Master's thesis was focused on immunological conflict in maternal-fetal interface. After that she studied integrin cross-regulation for three years. Her strenghts are structral biology and scientific communication.
Olli Heikkinen, MSc student, University of Helsinki
Eeva Juselius, MSc student, University of Helsinki
Uni Rankka, MSc student, University of Helsinki