Jessica Tikkala | Doctoral Researcher, MD

jessica.m.tikkala@utu.fi

At present, I am a specializing physician at the department of Clinical microbiology at Turku University Hospital. I have received my basic medical training at the School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden. Since my graduation, 2016, I have worked in clinical medicine in the Åland islands, southwest Finland, a highly endemic area for tick-borne diseases.  

I am a PhD student at Turku University, with a thesis on TBE epidemiology, immunology and diagnostics. 

My research interests are: 

  • Epidemiology, disease course and outcome of TBE and emerging tick-borne diseases (eTBD) 
  • Diagnostic methods for TBE, Lyme borreliosis and eTBD  
  • TBE immunology 
  • Vaccine immunology, efficacy