Emmy Verschuren received her PhD in tumour biology from UCL in 2003, following graduate studies with Nic Jones at the ICRF/CRUK in London, and Gerard Evan at UCSF in San Francisco. In 2003, she was awarded a Damon Runyon Fellowship for a postdoc with Peter Jackson at Stanford University to study cell cycle control. In 2006, the group moved to Genentech Inc., where she continued her postdoc. Emmy became a FIMM-EMBL Group Leader in 2009. From 2011-2016, she acted as the Academic Coordinator of the public-private IMI-PREDECT consortium, and she serves on the European Association of Cancer Research (EACR) Board since 2012. Emmy was appointed as FIMM’s Strategic Research Coordinator in autumn 2018, while continuing her scientific position as a FIMM Group Leader. She loves to visit their countryside ‘mökki’ (cottage), play ‘sulkapallo’ (badminton), or hike in the Finnish ‘suo’ (swampland).
Email: emmy.verschuren(at)helsinki.fi
Nora has been working as a laboratory technician in Emmy Verschuren's and Tero Aittokallio's groups since 2019. She graduated as a biomedical laboratory scientist in 2018, and before joining FIMM, she worked in the Children's and Women's hospital and Anticoagulation laboratories (HUSLAB). Nora did her Bachelor's thesis and practical training in Pirta Hotulainen's lab (Minerva) where she found the world of research. At FIMM, she has learned different techniques including cell culture, genotyping, IHC and tissue preparation, drug screening and CRISPR editing. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family, friends and with her active Nova Scotian Duck Tolling Retriever.
Email: nora.linnavirta(at)helsinki.fi
Elissar received her MSc in Biological Sciences from Notre Dame University, Lebanon. She is now a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network PhD student and part of the CANCERPREV network under the supervision of Emmy Verschuren and co-supervision of Wim Declrecq (Ghent University). Her role is to explore the translational potential of inflammatory signaling modulation in the tertiary prevention of non-small-cell lung cancer. She ultimately aims to generate personalized diagnostic assays centered around tumor and patient-specific profile from primary cancer cells to help tailor and potentiate treatments of drug resistant NSCLC. Apart from work, Elissar enjoys spending time with family, friends, and any puppy she comes across.