Group Members

Principal Investigator

is the one who pays the bills and protects the lab members from stress :D

Adjunct Professor in Molecular Virology | Academy of Finland Research Fellow 

phone: +358 (0) 50 3149167 | e-mail:

Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences | Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Program and Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science HELSUS

P.O.Box 21 (Haartmaninkatu 3, zip 00290), FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

Haartman's Institute, room E353

Doctoral Researcher

joined us from Nepal in March 2018. His master thesis and research focuses on the regulation of cellular stress responses and protein synthesis in cells infected by different RNA viruses. Using genetically engineered viruses, small-molecule inhibitors and advanced imaging techniques, Ravi is dissecting the molecular events by which viruses take control of the cellular protein synthesis machinery. His goal is to develop new strategies to interfere with this process and block virus infection.

phone: +358 (0) 50 3149167 | e-mail:

Faculty of Medicine | Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Program and Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science HELSUS

P.O.Box 21 (Haartmaninkatu 3, zip 00290), FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

Haartman's Institute, room E373

Graduate Researcher

joined the lab in 2023 after finishing her master's in neuroscience at the University of Helsinki. She has put her scientific gloves on in various fields including the neurobiology of eating disorders, neuropharmacology, anxiety disorders, and breast cancer. With this repertoire of knowledge and techniques, she now studies neuronal infection of SARS-CoV-2 in hiPSC-derived neuronal cultures. On a daily basis, she works with cell biology approaches, high-throughput imaging, automated image analysis, and statistics. She enjoys tasks demanding high accuracy and creativity.

E-mail:

Department of Virology | Faculty of Medicine 

PO Box 21 (Haartmaninkatu 3), University of Helsinki

Haartman's Institute, room E359

Doctoral Researcher

co-supervised with Dr. Merja Joensuu, University of Queensland, Australia

focuses on the role of lipid-modifying enzymes in SARS-CoV-2 virus replication, assembly, and release. Using a combination of advanced imaging techniques, gene-editing, biochemistry, and cell biology approaches, he wants to understand how cellular membrane trafficking and virus assembly are regulated by specific classes of phospholipases. 

E-mail: 

Department of Virology | Faculty of Medicine 

PO Box 21 (Haartmaninkatu 3), University of Helsinki

Haartman's Institute, room E373

Laboratory Manager

keeps our lab in check. He takes care of our orders, reagents stocks and research materials, maintenance of basic instrumentations, and helps all of us performing our experiments in the most efficient way. We are lucky to have him! :)

phone: +358 (0)504151143 | e-mail: 

Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences | Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Program and Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science HELSUS

Viikinkaari 9, zip 00790, Helsinki, Finland

Biocenter-1 C, room 2403

Interested in playing with cells, viruses and the most powerful microscopes in the world? Come visit us! :)

Previous Lab member 

 joined the lab as a postdoctoral researcher in 2022 after finishing PhD in Neuroscience. She studied neurotropic viruses, with a particular focus on the mechanisms of viral entry into the brain cells.



E-mail:

Department of Virology | Faculty of Medicine 

PO Box 21 (Haartmaninkatu 3), University of Helsinki

Haartman's Institute, room E373

Previous Lab member

Katri joined us in September 2019, bringing cloning power and expertise in virus-induced membrane rearrangements, autophagy, and state-of-the-art 3D electron microscopy. She was involved in all projects of the lab, particularly on virus replication and membrane structures, and she was the creator of our lab mascot ‘Buggy’ the infectious dude. We were lucky to have her!

phone: +358 (0) 50 5560 847| e-mail:

Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences | Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Program

P.O.Box 65 (Viikinkaari 9, zip 00790), FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

Previous Lab member

Majharul 'Magic' joined us as a research assistant in December 2018. His task was to develop new image-based, high-throughput assays to monitor protein synthesis in millions of cells at a single-cell level. His optimized methods do not require the use of radioactivity and allow measuring the global state of cellular protein synthesis in different cell lines as well as in primary neurons and acute brain slices. His favorite techniques are high-content imaging and automated image analysis combined with biochemical approaches.

Previous lab member

Emilia started as a master's student in our group in 2017 and, after graduating in 2018, helped me build our new lab from scratch. During her thesis work, Emilia used high-content fluorescence imaging and automated image analysis methods, CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis, and biochemical approaches to study how blocking a cellular ion transporter inhibits the infection of Respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, the leading cause of viral infant death in the world.  Emma's work also focused on the development of novel in vitro translation systems and on the regulation of protein synthesis in virus-infected cells.

e-mail: