My research vision is to use chemistry as a tool to solve biomedical problems. Particularly, I am interested in studying nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery at cellular level using innovative chemistry approaches. I believe modern tools such as bioorthogonal chemistry provide exciting opportunities to understand how nanoparticles are internalized by cells, and subsequently trafficked inside cells. Furthermore, I would like to apply these fundamental understanding in the next-generation nanotherapeutics development. My extensive combinational expertise in chemistry and nanomedicine enables these exploration at the bio-nano interface. If you are a passionate researcher interested in these topics, welcome to join us!
Dr. Cheng completed her PhD in February 2023, with joint degree from the University of Helsinki and the University of Groningen under the supervision of Prof. Helder Santos. She is an expert on nanomedicine for cancer immunotherapy.
Project supported by The Research Fund of the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service
Dr. Shuhan Feng completed her PhD in January 2024, from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Her research interests include polysaccharides, hydrogels, pH-responsive biomaterials and freeze-drying. She will work on hydrogels for intracellular delivery applications.
Project supported by the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation
Mingze Yand did his PhD in Aalto University. His research focuses on heterogeneous catalysts, biomass refining, and reaction kinetics. He will work on the investigation of the mechanism of the bioorthogonal luminescent reaction using the kinetic method.
Supported by ERC Starting Grant.
Yuchen Su completed her master degree from Beijing University of Chemical Technology (China), majored in polymer materials. Her PhD project will focus on developing polymer nanoparticles for intracellular delivery.
Supported by The China Scholarship Council
Melissa Hendrén completed her master degree from Aalto University, majored in Life Science Technologies (Biosystem Engineering) with minor in synthetic biology. She was also the team leader of Aalto-Helsinki iGEM team in 2022. Her mater thesis was performed in VTT, about genetically modified yeast cells for production of quinolone and quinoline
molecules. After master graduation, Melissa worked in shortly Synbio Powerlabs Oy as the Chief Innovation Officer before joining Intracellular Delivery Lab as a PhD student. Her PhD project will focus on developing new imaging methods for intracellular delivery characterizations.
Supported by The Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation
Mai Soliman completed her master degree from Alexandria University (Egypt), majored in Pharmaceutics. Her previous work was developing targeted lipid nanoparticles as elastic liposomes. Her PhD project will focus on investigating cell surface glycan involvement in nanoparticle uptake.
Supported by The Research Council of Finland
Mengjie Wang completed her master degree from Peking University (China), majored in Pharmacy. Her previous work was developing brain-targeted elastic nanocapsules and their application in the treatment of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Her PhD project will focus on investigating the effects of endosomal escape and endosomal membrane repair on intracellular delivery and inflammation.
Project supported by iCANDOC doctoral education pilot
Jonas Burmester completed his master degree in September 2024, from University of Hamburg (Germany), majored in Biology. He has been working on oligonucleotide labelling and membrane protein complexes involved in endosomal cargo trafficking. His PhD project will focus on developing a new bioorthogonal chemistry approach for intracellular delivery quantification.
Supported by ERC Starting Grant
Granta is an MSc student in the Pharmaceutical Research, Development, and Safety Program, University of Helsinki. She is working in the group as a research assistant. She has research experience in exosomes, polymer nanoparticles and lipid nanoparticles for cardiovascular diseases prevention and treatment. Her project will be about making glycosylated nanoparticles for drug delivery. Granta also serves as a "Study in Finland Ambassador" for the University.
Mansi is pursuing an MSc in Pharmaceutical Research, Development, and Safety at the University of Helsinki and has completed her undergraduate studies from India in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She joined the lab as a HiLIFE trainee during the summer and now she is working on her master thesis project. Her research interest lies in nanomedicine and her project will be about exploring the cellular uptake of nanoparticles, nanoparticle optimization, and microfluidics.
Kaiyang graduated from INSA Lyon, France, a five-year engineering school, and holds a master's degree in nanoscale technology from École Centrale de Lyon (ECL). Before joining the group, he has worked in Microfluidics Innovation Center (Paris, France) as an internship student. His research interests include hydrogel materials, microfluidics technology and 3D cell culture.