Gonçalo Barreto, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at the Helsinki Rheumatic Diseases & Inflammation Group. His research focus on studying innate immunity signalling and novel regulators in Osteoarthritis. He is particularly interested in the cartilage matrix (e.g. glycoproteins), and gut-derived LPS (endotoxin) mediation of innate immune activation in Osteoarthritis and other arthritic diseases. Moreover, he is also involved in other studies, ranging from cartilage drug delivery, Osteoarthritis rodent models, to gene editing for cartilage tissue engineering.
Annika Järvinen (MSc Pharm.) is a PhD student at the University of Helsinki. Her focus is on osteoarthritis and cartilage research, specifically on applying CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to study chondrocyte biology and develop novel chondrocyte-based cell therapies.
Saeid Vakilian, M.Sc. in Biotechnology Engineering, brings prior research experience in biomaterials, nanotechnology, and tissue engineering. He is particularly focused on developing controlled-release systems for delivering bioactive molecules to promote tissue regeneration. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Biomedicine at the University of Helsinki, he aims to optimize gene delivery systems to improve cartilage regeneration in osteoarthritis.
Senja Kokki is an MD & PhD student at the University of Helsinki. Her doctoral research focuses on how single‑nucleotide variants associated with genetic cartilage disorders and osteoarthritis impact human articular chondrocyte function and cartilage tissue properties.
Hetta Suomi is a Master's student in Genetics and Molecular Biosciences with a focus on Genetics and Genomics at the University of Helsinki.