People

Our lab is multidisciplinary, international and collegial and we are committed to offer high-standard scientific training in a supportive environment.

If you wish to join our lab or collaborate, do not hesitate to contact: ville.hietakangas@helsinki.fi

Ville Hietakangas

Principal Investigator, Professor

I want to understand the physiological relevance of new regulatory mechanisms involved in nutrient sensing of animals.

ville.hietakangas@helsinki.fi
Telephone: +358-2-941 58001
Biocenter 1, room 4317

Bohdana (Dana) Rovenko

Postdoctoral Researcher  

I am interested to learn how nutrient and redox sensing are coupled providing successful adaptation of Drosophila to different dietary environments. 

bohdana.rovenko@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4312

Josef Gullmets

Postdoctoral Researcher

I want to use imaging and epigenetic modalities to investigate the mechanistic link between nutrients and stem cell differentiation.

josef.gullmets@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4311

Gaia Fabris

PostDoctoral Researcher 

During my PhD I got particularly fascinated about how cells are able to respond and adapt their growth rate according to environmental challenges such as scarce nutrient availability and the main aim of my postdoc is to further explore the impact of different dietary environments on Drosophila intestinal cell growth and physiology.

gaia.fabris@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4312

Marius Robciuc

PostDoctoral Researcher 

I aim to define the regions involved in sugar sensing in the drosophila intestinal tract and to uncover new mechanisms involved in sugar metabolism that are evolutionary conserved and relevant for human pathology

marius.robciuc@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4310

Cornélia Biehler

Postdoctoral Researcher

My main interest is to explore how nutrient uptake can modulate intestinal tumors. I like to think that, in the future, it will be possible to get rid of intestinal tumors by eating a specific diet. Besides talking about science, I also love sport and eating!

cornelia.biehler@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4311

Nicole Lamichane

PhD Student

I am interested in finding new genes and pathways involved in sugar tolerance.

nicole.lamichane@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4310

Arto Viitanen

PhD Student

My focus is in analysis of cell population changes in the midgut.

arto.viitanen@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4310

Onur Deniz

PhD Student

I want to identify new physiological regulators of nutrient sensing.

onur.deniz@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4312

Terhi Rintakangas

PhD Student

I want to understand how cells sense nutrients and how this influences on cell signaling and gene expression of intestinal epithelium.

terhi.rintakangas@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4310

Kari Moisio

Research Assistant

kari.moisio@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4310

Petteri Borgman

Research Assistant

I aim to understand how nutrients regulate intestinal stem cell proliferation and epithelial renewal.

petteri.borgman@helsinki.fi
Biocenter 1, room 4310

Heini Lassila

Laboratory Manager

My main focus is to keep my colleagues happy by making sure that things run smoothly.

heini.lassila@helsinki.fi

Phone: +358-50-3182928
Biocenter 1, office 4311, laboratory 4335

Juhana Juutila

Research Technician 

I am working in the MetaStem Metabolomics unit; maintaining, calibrating and running samples with the Orbi-Wan: a mass spectrometer coupled to a high-performance liquid chromatography system

juhana.juutila@helsinki.fi
Phone: +358-50-5203327 
Biocenter 2, room 1079

Alumni

Postdoctoral Researchers

Linda van den Berg, University of Helsinki
Cagri Yalgin, University of Helsinki
Martin Broberg, University of Helsinki
Riikka Hynynen, University of Helsinki 
Richard Melvin, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
Wei Zhang, Nanjing Agricultural University

PhD students

Krista Kokki, University of Helsinki
Rita Cerejeira Matos, Stockholm University
Ying Liu, Harvard University
Kiran Hasygar, University of Helsinki
Mari Teesalu, University of Helsinki
Essi Havula, University of Sydney

Other group members

Olivia Heino, University of Helsinki
Oona Kinnunen, Aalto University
 

Alumni - Jaakko Mattila
Alumni - Anni Nieminen-Viheriäranta

Head of FIMM Metabolomics Unit

anni.nieminen@helsinki.fi