People

Group leader

I am a pharmacologist with a passion to find new drug treatments to cure heart diseases. I completed my MSc and PhD degrees at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki and have postdoctoral experience from Prof Heikki Ruskoaho’s group at the University of Helsinki as well as Prof Sian Harding’s lab at Imperial College London.

Currently, I work as an Academy Research Fellow and principal investigator leading the regenerative cardiac pharmacology group. I am particularly interested in utilising human pluripotent stem cell-based models and high content analysis to identify new drug targets and to characterise new potential drug treatments for the treatment of heart failure.

I also continue collaborating closely with Professors Raimo Tuominen and Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma on the topic of my PhD project: characterization of new protein kinase C (PKC)-targeted compounds.

University lecturer

I completed my PhD degree at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki in 2021. Currently, I am working as a University lecturer. My research focus has been pharmacological and toxicological characterisation of novel compounds in various cardiac and stem cell models. I am particularly interested in utilising human pluripotent stem cell-based models in drug discovery.

Doctoral researcher

I graduated in 2018 with a Master’s degree in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Helsinki. The focus of my PhD research is at drug discovery with the aim to find small molecule compounds to promote cardiac regeneration. I design, synthesize, purify, characterize, and evaluate various new drug-like compounds for their biological activity. I am particularly interested in uncovering the molecular structures behind pharmacological activity.

Doctoral researcher

I graduated in 2021 with a M.Sc. (Pharm) in pharmacology from the University of Helsinki. Being fascinated by the possibilities in vitro research can provide, I continued my work in the Talman group after submitting my Master’s thesis. Currently, I am working on my PhD project, which focuses on the use of hiPSC-CMs to further elucidate and characterise cardiomyopathies. Simultaneously, I am investigating the role of the transcription factor GATA4 in cardiac regeneration.

Doctoral researcher

I’m a molecular biology graduate with an MSc in Genes, Drugs and Stem Cells from Imperial College London. I joined the Talman group in October 2021 as a PhD student. My research focus is on the identification of disease mechanisms and potential treatments for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome by utilizing patient-derived pluripotent stem cells. This is a collaborative project with paediatric cardiologist Dr Emmi Helle.

Doctoral researcher

Ciao! I obtained my Master's degree in pharmaceutical chemistry and technology from the University of Pavia (Italy). I joined the University of Helsinki during my MSc thesis project through the Erasmus+ program. I became passionate about the possibility to create molecules that could modulate cell behaviour and started my PhD in January 2022. Currently, I work in a multidisciplinary project discovering new allosteric modulators of protein kinase C (PKC), which may have potential as drug candidates for heart disease or cancer. My focus is on the design and synthesis of new potential agonists in a sustainable way. In addition, I investigate the effects of PKC-binding compounds on biological models.