People
Eeva-Liisa Eskelinen, Professor in medical cell biology
Eeva-Liisa has a long track record in autophagy, in particular, in elucidating the fine structure of autophagosomes and autolysosomes using electron microscopy. She completed her PhD in 1993 at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, followed by postdoctoral work in Göttingen, Germany and Helsinki, Finland. Then she became an independent investigator in Dundee, Scotland. After that, she worked as a group leader in Kiel, Germany. In August 2005 she started as a University Lecturer at the Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki. Finally, 1st of November 2017 she started as a professor in medical cell biology at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Finland.
Martin Lopez, postdoctoral researcher
Martin Alexander López studied molecular biology at the University in Vienna, Austria. He did his diploma thesis on the topic of RNA chaperone activity of intrinsically unstructured domains. Afterwards, he did his PhD at the University of Zürich in Switzerland. In his thesis Martin investigated the regulation of clock gene expression in inflammation. He took a special interest in the protein CIRP (cold-inducible RNA binding protein) and its regulatory role in circadian gene expression. Subsequently, he joined the University of Liège as a postdoctoral researcher and investigated the interplay of the alternative NF-kB signalling pathway and circadian rhythms in liver homeostasis. In 2023 Martin joined our group and is investigating the molecular mechanisms of RAB24.
Mauricio Ramm, doctoral researcher
Mauricio completed his MSc at the University of Heidelberg in 2017 on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. He joined the Eskelinen group in April 2018 as the first group member working at the University of Turku, Institute of Biomedicine. Mauricio is working on decipring the roles of the small GTPase RAB24 in neuronal cells. He is an early stage researcher in the Marie Sklodowska-Curie network DRIVE.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN DRIVE
Lav Tripathi, postdoctoral researcher
Lav completed his PhD at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, India, in 2014. The thesis topic was the development of VLP based recombinant subunit vaccine candidates against dengue virus. Lav initially joined our group in order to facilitate the production of new antibodies against RAB24 protein. He then started a postdoctoral position and is investigating the molecular mechanisms of RAB24-mediated proliferation, adhesion and migration of cancer cells.
Anson Antony, MSc student
Anson completed his BSc in advanced zoology and biotechnology from Loyola College, Chennai, India. Later he worked as an Intern at the International Centre for Excellence in Research Laboratory, National Institute of Health, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, before coming to Turku. He is currently pursuing his masters degree in molecular systems biology at the University of Turku, and he is doing his MSc thesis in our group.
Alumni
Johannes Tapio, MSc student
Johannes persued his MSc thesis in our group in 2024. He studied putative interaction partners of Rab24 protein.
Hira Javed, MSc student
Hira persued her MSc thesis in our group in 2024. She investigated the localization of Rab24 protein in cell cultures and mouse tissues.
Axel Haverbeque, MSc student
Axel is a Master’s student in Biotechnology at the University of Lille, France. He completed his first year by persuing an internship in our group in summer 2024.
Farhad Ahmed, MSc
Farhad persued his MSc thesis in our group in 2019-20. He also worked in our group as a visiting scientist in 2023. Farhad studied the expression of Rab24 protein in mouse tissues according to age.
Roosa Kotiniitty, MSc
Roosa completed her Master in physiology and genetics at the University of Turku in 2023. She joined the Eskelinen group in May 2022 to perform her Master’s thesis. In her thesis she investigated the potential protein-protein interactions of Rab24.
Yunus Bayraktar, visiting student
Yunus is studying pharmacy at Hacettepe University, Turkey, where he conducted a science project on how mushrooms affect autophagy, and worked at the Pharmacology department of Pharmacy faculty. He conducted an ERASMUS internship with the Eskelinen group in 2023.
Sylvana Kaniecki, visiting student
Sylvana was visiting our group in summer 2022. She is persuing a Master’s degree in Biotechnologies in cellular and molecular engineering at the University of Lille, France.
Joakim Kauhanen, MSc
Joakim worked with us in spring and summer 2022. Currently he continues his studies in medicine at the University of Turku.
Roosa Rahkonen, summer student
Roosa worked with us as an intern in summer 2021. She continues her studiens in biomedicine at the University of Turku.
Sadaf Fazeli, MSc
Sadaf persued her MSc thesis in our group in 2020-21. She is currently doing a PhD in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sigurdur Runar Gudmundsson, MSc
Siggi did his PhD project in the Eskelinen group at the University of Helsinki. He is currently working at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik
Tahira Anwar, PhD
Tahira did her PhD in the Eskelinen group at the University of Helsinki. She is currently working as a Laboratory Manager at Medtag Therapies, Cambridge, UK
Katri Kallio, PhD
Katri was working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Eskelinen group in Helsinki. She is currently occupied in FinVector Oy, Kuopio
Joanna Biazik, PhD
Joanna was working as a postdoctoral researcher in Eskelinen group in Helsinki. She is currently back in her home country, Sydney, Australia.
Taina Suntio, PhD
Taina was working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Eskelinen group in Helsinki. She is currently occupied at the University of Helsinki.
Mykola Domanskyy, PhD
Mykola was working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Eskelinen group in Helsinki.
Päivi Ylä-Anttila, PhD
Päivi did her PhD in the Eskelinen group in Helsinki. After finishing her PhD, she moved to the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Currently she is working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku.