People

Members of DyslexiaBaby research group.
Teija Kujala

I am a Professor of Psychology, and I am leading this project, which is part of my larger project on the brain basis of language and language disorders. I study language perception and its disorders, such as dyslexia. I am also interested in language development and the plasticity of the brain through learning and rehabilitation. My key goal is to find effective ways to alleviate language difficulties.

Teija Kujala Researchportal profile‏‏‎‏‏‎

Kaija Mikkola

I am a specialist in paediatrics and neonatology. In my work my patients are full term and prematurely born infants. I have conducted follow-up research on the later outcome of prematurely born infants and on the development of the auditory cortex. In this project, I collaborate with researchers to help to recruit newborns and inform families, and later refer the child for a follow-up, if necessary. My role as a clinician is to assess the relevance of the research findings to practice.

Kaija Mikkola Researchportal profile

Paula Virtala

I am a Doctor of Psychology and work in the project as a Vice Director. In my PhD thesis, I used electroencephalogram to investigate the development of auditory abilities from infancy to adulthood and the impact of music practice on this development. In the context of the Lukivauva project, I study, for example, early language and auditory skills in babies and the factors that influence them, as well as neural processing of speech in individuals with dyslexia. I am also involved in supervising doctoral and MA theses

‏‏‎Paula Virtala Researchportal profile

Linda Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist

I work in this project as a doctoral student and participate in investigating the children involved in the project. I studied children when they were 2-3 years old, particularly their linguistic performance, how they process language at the brain level and how development affects these functions. I have a Master's degree in Logopedics and I have also worked as a speech and language therapist at the Rinnekoti Foundation and the City of Helsinki.

‏‏‎Linda Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist Researchportal profile

Eino Partanen

My research aims to understand the brain basis and brain mechanisms of early childhood learning, how best to support learning in early childhood and how to identify learning difficulties. Occasionally I also work as a neuropsychologist. Currently I work as a university lecturer, teaching client work-life skills to psychology students.

Eino Partanen Researchportal profile‏‏‎

Paavo Leppänen

I am a Professor of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä. I am interested in identifying the risk factors for reading difficulties and producing information that will help to find ways to cope with reading difficulties. Together with our research team we have studied differences in brain functioning related to dyslexia and language skills that are important for reading since infancy.

Paavo Leppänen University of Jyväskylä ⇒

Jarmo Hämäläinen

I am a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä. I have studied the functioning of the auditory system in infants and children. Abnormalities in the auditory system may also be one of the factors underlying reading difficulties. My aim is also to apply the latest brain research methods, such as brain activity localization and rhythmicity, to infant’s and children’s data.

Jarmo Hämäläinen University of Jyväskylän ⇒

Juha Kere

I am a Professor of Molecular Genetics at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, originally from Helsinki. Our group has discovered most of the known dyslexia susceptibility genes, starting with the first one, DYX1C1 gene. We want to understand the role of heredity in the development of dyslexia.

Juha Kere Researchportal profile

Eira Leinonen

I work as a research nurse in this project, working in Professor Kere's team. I am responsible for collecting the samples needed for genetic studies. I have a long experience of working at the Children's Hospital. I am happy to answer any questions regarding genetic studies!

Peixin Nie

I am a doctoral student studying in the effect of music training on children’s cognitive function and the interaction between music and language. I started working in this project since May 2022 and will be coordinating the project implementation and data collection on school-aged children. I’m interested in investigating whether music experience can help with dyslexia and reading skills.

Sergio Navarrete

I graduated in Biomedical Sciences and took my M.Sc. in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Barcelona (UB). Also, I conducted an internship training at the Brain Stimulation Lab at the UB Faculty of Medicine, where I completed my master’s theses.

My research interests are human cognition and brain development, as well as their impairments and plasticity, and that’s why in 2022 I will join the DyslexiaBaby Project as an early-stage (doctoral) researcher. My research will focus on early brain development in dyslexia. Concretely, my interest is to examine the maturation of neural auditory processing of speech in early infancy, as well as the influence of familial dyslexia risk on it. Also, I aim to disentangle the relations between these responses and language abilities/pre-reading skills.

Knowing more about these processes would help to improve the developmental path in language and reading-skill acquisition of children worldwide in the future.

Niina Seittenranta

I am a doctoral researcher in the DyslexiaBaby project. My research explores the brain development of children with an increased risk of dyslexia. In my research, I will employ data that has been collected during infancy and school age. Previously, I completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in cognitive science at the University of Helsinki. In addition, I have a minor in computational research methods and statistics, which is my other great interest.

Oona Holkeri

I am a Master's student in Psychology. I started as a research assistant in Lukivauva in autumn 2022. With other research assistants I’m conducting research on school-aged children. I am interested in the brain basis of different learning disabilities, for example dyslexia, and cognitive functions associated with learning disabilities. I am also interested in preventive interventions and rehabilitation for these difficulties.

Johanna Hämäläinen

I am a Master's student in Psychology and I started as a research assistant in Lukivauva in autumn 2022, where I am involved in conducting research on school-aged children together with other research assistants. I am particularly interested in the neuropsychological rehabilitation of children and adolescents, and I would like to work in this field in the future.