Group members

Group leaders, researchers, doctoral students, master/bachelor students and visiting students/researchers.
Karita Haapasalo

PhD, Title of Docent (microbial immunology)
Principal investigator

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. 

Karita Haapasalo's Research Portal profile

Pavel Uvarov

PhD, University Researcher

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 Nissilä

PhD, University Researcher

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 Syed

PhD, post doc

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

PhD, post doc

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 Heiland

PhD student

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.

Larisa Chernyaeva

PhD student

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.

Master's students

Current MSc/MD students

Olli Heikkinen, MSc student, University of Helsinki

Eeva Juselius, MSc student, University of Helsinki

Uni Rankka, MSc student, University of Helsinki

Former members
We want to thank all the former members for excellent contribution to our research group!
  • MD student: Juuso Vedenjuoksu, University of Helsinki
  • MSc student: Mareena Hyypiä, University of Helsinki, Master's thesis 6. 2023
  • MD student: Emilia Vataja, University of Helsinki
  • Satoshi Fudo, PhD, University of Helsinki, Finland, Postdoctoral Researcher 2020-2022
  • MSc/MD ERASMUS student: Daan Cox, University of Amsterdam, Master's thesis 12. 2022
  • MSc student: Essi Roininen, University of Helsinki, Master's thesis 11.2022
  • MD student: Sofia Bignami, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy, internship 2022
  • MD studens: Marta Pagano and Luigia Ferrante, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy, internship 2021
  • MSc student/ERASMUS: Marcel Cardona i Collado, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, internship 2020
  • MSc student/ERASMUS: Isabel Stötzel, University or Bonn, Germany, internship 2020
  • MSc student: Katharina Volk, University of Bayreuth, Germany, internship 2019
  • MD student: Giorgio Ratti, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy, internship 2019
  • Bachelor's students: Jutta Hukka and Johanna Mäkelä, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland, Bachelor's thesis 2020
  • Bachelor's student: Pipsa Hakala, University of Helsinki, Bachelor's thesis 2019
  • Bachelor's student: Mikael Gromyko, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland, Bachelor's thesis 2018
  • Bachelor's student: Angela Roig, University of Barcelona, Spain, Bachelor's thesis 2016