People

Endothelial and stem cells regulating tissue function

Principal Investigator, Research Fellow of the Finnish Academy of Sciences

• BSc in Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, 1997
• MSc in Exercise physiology, University of Jyväskylä, 2001
• PhD, University of Jyväskylä, 2008
• Post doctoral research fellow, Prof. Kari Alitalo's group, University of Helsinki, 2008-2013
• Senior research fellow, Wihuri Research Institute, Helsinki, 2013-2016

TUHAT, ORCID, LinkedIn, riikka.kivela(at)helsinki.fi

Genetics of heart diseases

Clinical Researcher

• MSc (Econ.) - Turku School of Economics, Finland
• MD - Linköping University, Sweden
• PhD - Pediatrics, Turku University, Finland
• Postdoctoral research fellow, Prof. Euan Ashley Lab, Stanford University CA, 2015-2017

• Postdoctoral research fellow, Kivelä Lab, University of Helsinki, 2017-

• Research Interests: Genetics of congenital heart disease, Left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) defects, Patient-derived iPS cells in disease modeling, Maternal glucose metabolism and congenital heart defects.

TUHAT, ORCID, LinkedIn, emmi.helle(at)helsinki.fi

Endothelial cells in co-culture models

Postdoctoral researcher

• PhD - University of Tampere
• MSc - University of Tampere
• Research interests: Endothelial cells, cardiomyocytes, in vitro co-culture models, iPS cells

TUHAT, ORCID, LinkedIn, minna.ampuja(at)helsinki.fi

Postdoctoral researcher

• Postdoctoral research fellow, Kivelä Lab, University of Helsinki, 2020-
• Postdoctoral scholar, Prof. Creed Stary lab, Stanford University CA, 2017-2019
• PhD - University of Oulu, Experimental Heart Surgery, Finland

• MD – University of Oulu, Finland

• Research Interests: Ischemia-reperfusion injury, cell to cell communication between brain and heart, cellular bioenergetics.

Prox1 transcription factor in Rhabdomyosarcoma and skeletal muscle

PhD Student

• M.Sc. (Biotechnology), Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
• B.Sc. (Biology), Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
• Research Interests: Prox1 transcription factor, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Satellite cells, Skeletal muscle regeneration.

TUHAT, ORCID, LinkedIn, nebeyu.gizaw(at)helsinki.fi

PhD Student

• MSc in Exercise physiology, University of Jyväskylä
• Research interests: Skeletal muscle, vasculature, endothelial cells, muscle hypertrophy, angiogenesis, metabolic health, muscle wasting

aino.poikonen(at)helsinki.fi

PhD Student

• Medical student in the University of Helsinki

PhD Student

• M.Sc. - Imperial College London (Genes, Drugs and Stem Cells - Novel Therapies)
• B.Sc. - Middlesex University (Molecular Biology)
• Research interests: Heart failure, patient-derived iPS cells in disease modeling, cardiac hypertrophy, cardiomyocytes

margarida.varela(at)helsinki.fi

Student

• Medical student in the University of Helsinki

MSc student

• BSc in molecular biosciences, University of Helsinki

PhD student

• M.Sc. - Translational Medicine, University of Helsinki (2021)

• B.Sc. - Molecular biosciences, University of Helsinki (2019)

• Research interests: health benefits of exercise, cardiometabolic diseases, endothelial cells, Oroboros, single cell technology

kialiina.tonttila(at)helsinki.fi, LinkedIn

Student

• Medical student in the University of Helsinki