Biological Physics and Soft Matter /

People

Our group has currently (about) 9 senior members and postdoctoral scientists, 10 PhD students, and 3 MSc/BSc thesis workers. Additionally, we have several international members focusing on theoretical (Ralf Metzler) and biomolecular simulation (Hector Martinez-Seara, Fabio Lolicato) as well as experimental (Lukasz Cwiklik) research on living systems.

Our group is a member of the Research Center in Biological Barrier Mechanics and Disease and also linked to the Helsinki Eye Lab in ophthalmology.

Our group has a very strong and active network with numerous first-class partners. For instance, during the last 5 years, we have published more than 40 joint articles with more than 30 different experimental groups (and more than 18 joint papers with more than 15 theory/simulation groups).

 

Ilpo Vattulainen
Ralf Metzler
Lukasz Cwiklik
Tomasz Rog
Artturi Koivuniemi
Waldemar Kulig
Sami Paavilainen
Sanja Pöyry
Hector Martinez-Seara
Fabio Lolicato
Giray Enkavi
Xavier Prasanna Anthony Raj
Shreyas Kaptan
Topi Karilainen
Joni Vuorio
Edouard Mobarak
Outi Haapanen
Juho Liekkinen
Mykhailo Girych
Hanna Juhola
Joona Tynkkynen
Hanna Korolainen
Riku Paananen
Santeri Paajanen
Veera Hägg
Sakari Pirnes
Collaborators
Alumni

Ilpo Vattulainen

Ilpo Vattulainen

CONTACT INFORMATION

Prof. Ilpo Vattulainen (group leader)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C119 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter
  • Membrane Biophysics & Lipid-Protein Interactions
  • Signaling and Protein Dynamics
  • Lipoproteins, Transfer Proteins & Trafficking
  • Drug-Membrane & Drug-Receptor Interactions
  • Scientific Computing & Computational Sciences

Ralf Metzler

Ralf Metzler

CONTACT INFORMATION

Prof. Ralf Metzler (international member)

Theoretical Physics 
Institute for Physics & Astronomy 
University of Potsdam 
Karl-Liebknecht-Str 24/25, Haus 28 
D-14476 Potsdam-Golm

RESEARCH INTERESTS

See: http://www.agnld.uni-potsdam.de/~metz/index.html

Tomasz Rog

Tomasz Rog

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Tomasz Rog (university researcher)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C118 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter

Artturi Koivuniemi

Artturi Koivuniemi

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Artturi Koivuniemi (university researcher)

Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 56 (Viikinkaari 5), FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter

Sami Paavilainen

Sami Paavilainen

CON­TACT IN­FORM­A­TION

Dr. Sami Paavilainen (lecturer)

Computational Physics Laboratory, Tampere University
P.O. Box 692, FI-33014 Tampere, Finland
Office: SG205
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@tut.fi

RE­SEARCH IN­TERESTS

  • Ultrathin insulating films: density functional calculations
  • Nanocellulose: classical molecular dynamics simulations
  • Artificial graphene
  • Scanning tunneling microscopy: tight binding and density functional calculations

Sanja Pöyry

Sanja Pöyry

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Sanja Pöyry (lecturer)

Computational Physics Laboratory, Tampere University
P.O. Box 692, FI-33014 Tampere, Finland
Office: SG318
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@tut.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Cardiolipin oxidation
  • Cytochrome bc1 complex

Hector Martinez-Seara

Hector Martinez-Seara

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Hector Martinez-Seara (international member)

Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS
Flemingovo náměstí 2, CZ-166 10 Prague 6, Czech Republic
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@uochb.cas.cz

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter

Fabio Lolicato

Fabio Lolicato

CON­TACT INFOR­MATION

Dr. Fabio Lolicato (international member)

Biochemistry Center (BZH), Heidelberg University
Im Neuenheimer Feld 328, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@bzh.uni-heidelberg.de

RESEARCH IN­TERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter

Giray Enkavi

Giray Enkavi

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Giray Enkavi (post-doctoral research scientist)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C117 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Biological membranes
  • Membrane transporters, channels, and peripheral membrane proteins

 

Xavier Prasanna Anthony Raj

Xavier Prasanna

CON­TACT INFOR­MATION

Dr. Xavier Prasanna Anthony Raj (post-doctoral research scientist)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C116 (Exactum building)
E-mail: xavierprasanna.anthonyraj@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH IN­TERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics and Soft matter

Shreyas Kaptan

CON­TACT INFOR­MATION

Dr. Shreyas Kaptan (post-doctoral research scientist)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C114 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH IN­TERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter

Topi Karilainen

Toppi Karilainen

CONTACT INFORMATION

Topi Karilainen (Ph.D. student)

Computational Physics Laboratory, Tampere University
P.O. Box 692, FI-33014 Tampere, Finland
Office: SG304A
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@tut.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • High-density lipoproteins
  • Radical oxidation
  • Fullerenes

Joni Vuorio

Joni Vuorio

CONTACT INFORMATION

Joni Vuorio (Ph.D. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C116 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Molecular biology & biophysics
  • Nanotechnology
  • Computational physics & modeling

 

Edouard Mobarak

Edouard Mobarak

CONTACT INFORMATION

Edouard Mobarak (Ph.D. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C114 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Effect of lipids on the behaviour of proteins of the immune system
  • Behaviour of lipids in membranes when attached to dyes

 

Outi Haapanen

Outi Haapanen

CONTACT INFORMATION

Outi Haapanen (Ph.D. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C113 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Mitochondrial proteins and DNA
  • Respiratory chain
  • Electron transport chain

 

Juho Liekkinen

Juho Liekkinen

CONTACT INFORMATION

Juho Liekkinen (Ph.D. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: B114 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Pulmonary surfactant and pulmonary surfactant associated proteins
  • SAPLIP proteins

Mykhailo Girych

Mykhailo Girych

CON­TACT INFOR­MATION

Mykhailo Girych (Ph.D. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C114 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH IN­TERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter

Hanna Juhola

Hanna Juhola

CONTACT INFORMATION

Hanna Juhola (Ph.D. student)

Computational Physics Laboratory, Tampere University
P.O. Box 692, FI-33014 Tampere, Finland
Office: SG215
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@tut.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Neurotransmitters' interactions with synaptic cell membrane
  • The role of cell membrane in diseases
  • Computer aided drug design

 

Joona Tynkkynen

CONTACT INFORMATION

Joona Tynkkynen (Ph.D. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: B114 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Biological physics, physics in living organism
  • Transmembrane protein functions
  • Computational Science

 

Hanna Korolainen

CONTACT INFORMATION

Hanna Korolainen (Ph.D. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: C116 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter

Riku Paananen

Riku Paananen

Con­tact infor­mation

Riku Paananen (Ph.D. student)

Ophthalmology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital
Haartmaninkatu 8, FI-00290 Helsinki, Finland
Office: B416a (Biomedicum Helsinki 1)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

Research In­terests

  • Tear film lipid layer structure and function
  • Langmuir monolayers
  • Molecular dynamics simulations

Santeri Paajanen

Santeri Paajanen

CON­TACT IN­FORM­A­TION

Santeri Paajanen (B. Sc. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: B114 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.e.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH IN­TERESTS

  • Computational Sciences
  • Programming & data-analysis

Veera Hägg

CON­TACT IN­FORM­A­TION

Veera Hägg (B. Sc. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: D124 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH IN­TERESTS

  • Biological Physics, Biophysics & Soft Matter

Sakari Pirnes

Sakari Pirnes

CON­TACT IN­FORM­A­TION

Sakari Pirnes (B. Sc. student)

Department of Physics, University of Helsinki 
P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Office: D124 (Exactum building)
E-mail: Firstname.Surname@helsinki.fi

RESEARCH IN­TERESTS

  • Theoretical and computational modelling

Collaborators

We collaborate very actively with a variety of groups, whose backgrounds range from physics to chemistry, medical sciences, pharmacology, computational sciences, and so forth, including both experimental and theoretical partners. Some of the most recent ones with whom we have joint recent publications or work currently in progress include the following ones:

   Assoc Prof Mikko Karttunen (Eindhoven Univ of Technology)
   Prof Elina Ikonen (Biomedicum, Univ of Helsinki)
   Dr Unal Coskun (Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden)
   Prof Kai Simons (MPI Dresden)
   Dr Jorge Bernardino de la Serna (Univ of Oxford)
   Dr Andrei Gurtovenko (Russian Acad of Sciences, St Petersburg)
   Prof P B Sunil Kumar (IIT Madras)
   Prof Pu-Chun Ke (Monash Univ)
   Assoc Prof Erik Lindahl (Stockholm Univ)
   Prof Roland Faller (UC Davis)
   Prof Siewert-Jan Marrink (Univ of Groeningen)
   Prof Hannu Hakkinen (Univ of Jyvaskyla)
   Prof Tapio Ala-Nissila (Aalto Univ)
   Prof Marta Pasenkiewicz-Gierula (Jagiellonian Univ)
   Dr Filip Tuomisto (Aalto Univ)
   Dr Vivek Sharma (Univ of Helsinki)
   Prof. Pavel Jungwirth (Czech Academy of Sciences)
   Prof. Christian Eggeling (Friedrich Schiller Univ)
   Prof. Pekka Lappalainen (Univ. Helsinki)
   Prof. Jacob Piehler (Univ Osnabrück)
   Prof. Ian Hitchcock (Univ York)
   Prof. Vesa Hytönen (Tampere Univ)
   Prof. Martin Hof (Czech Academy of Sciences)
   Prof. Petri Kursula (Univ Bergen)
   Prof. Jesus Perez-Gil (Complutense University of Madrid)
   Prof. Walter Nickel (Heidelberg Univ)
   Prof. Ilya Levental (Univ Virginia)
   Prof. Alf Hönigmann (Dresden)
   Prof. Antti Poso (Univ Eastern Finland)
   Prof. Erdinc Sezgin (Stockholm)

 

Alumni

Previous postdoctoral scientists

   Dr Maria Kalimeri
   Dr Moutusi Manna
   Dr Oana Cramariuc
   Dr Pekka Postila
   Dr Anirban Polley
   Dr Marja Hyvönen
   Dr Mohsen Pourmousa
   Dr Otto Punkkinen
   Dr J. H. Jeon
   Dr Giulia Rossi (with Aalto Univ / Tapio Ala-Nissila)
   Dr Luca Monticelli
   Dr Andrea Catte
   Dr Emppu Salonen
   Dr Jarmila Repakova
   Dr Andrei Gurtovenko
   Plus many supervised jointly with other teams (not listed here)

Previous PhD students

   Dr Tuomo Nieminen
   Dr Fabio Lolicato
   Dr Sami Rissanen
   Dr Matti Javanainen
   Dr Timo Vuorela
   Reinis Danne
   Tarja Parkkinen
   Dr Karol Kaszuba
   Dr Pipsa Kulovesi (Primary supervisor: Juha Holopainen (Univ Helsinki)
   Dr Adam Orlowski
   Dr Miroslava Franova
   Dr Jelena Telenius
   Dr Artturi Koivuniemi
   Dr Anette Hall
   Dr Sanja Poyry
   Dr Santtu Ollila
   Dr Jelena Telenius
   Dr Jarnila Repakova
   Dr Olli Punkkinen
   Dr Teemu Murtola
   Dr Perttu Niemela
   Dr Emma Terama
   Dr Emma Falck

Previous BSc/MSc students

   Many, to be listed here later.