Research highlights and the Cell Fate Lab in the media
2025
18 December 2024
Congratulations Erica, for being awarded a 1 year stipend for Phd studeies by Victoristiftelsen!
12 December 2024
This is the season of graduation! Congratulations to all of you from the Sahlgren lab, Eriksson lab, Loerakker Lab, and Rosenholm lab, for a successful PhD defense! You can find their thesis and titles in the links:
Leila's thesis: The role of vimentin in cell growth and fibroblast function: A focus on the mTORC1 pathway
Cansu's thesis: Interplay between mechanical cues and Notch signaling in regulating vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype
Freddy's thesis: Vascular Cells and Mechanical Signals : A study of the role of Jagged1 in vascular mechanosensing
5 Nov 2024
Congratulations to Cecilia on receiving the prestigious ERC Synergy Grant for her groundbreaking work on the "Making Blood" project!
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded the Synergy Grant to Professor Cecilia Sahlgren, joining the group of researchers in the pioneering “Making Blood” project. Led by Professor Anna Bigas (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute Foundation and Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, Spain), with collaboration from Professor Gerald de Haan (Sanquin Blood Supply, the Netherlands) and Associate Professor Cristina Pina (Brunel University of London, UK), this international team aims to develop an innovative method to produce human blood stem cells. The project holds transformative potential for advancing stem cell transplant therapy, addressing the critical need for a scalable, reliable source of human blood stem cells. Read more from links below:
Kahdelle turkulaistutkijalle ensimmäistä kertaa ikinä merkittävä Euroopan huippututkimusrahoitus (Turun Sanomat; article in Finnish)
Finland receives five European Research Council Synergy Grant funding (Academy of Finland Press)
New method for producing blood stem cells can revolutionize stem cell transplant therapy (ÅAU Press)
New method for producing blood stem cells can revolutionize stem cell transplant therapy (Turku Bioscience Press)
11 Oct 2024
Cecilia joins Yle Vega Åboland's Andy Ödman as guest of the week, where she discussed regenerative medicine utilizing the ability of the cells and organs to heal the body on their own. Listen more on Yle Vega Åboland Veckans gäst.
4 Sept 2024
Big, warm congratulations to Cecilia for being awarded the Chancellor Carl G. Gahmberg Prize for Outstanding Researchers at the Åbo Akademi Univeristy academic year opening ceremony!
29-30 Aug 2024
Erica and Elmeri gave poster presentations at the 33rd Biocity Symposium: Unleashing the power of metabolism, with the following poster titles:
"Anionic mesoporous silica nanoparticles target tumour cells in physiologically relevant 3D co-cultures” (Erica)
"Micropatterns in the study of endothelial cell mechanics and Notch signaling" (Elmeri)
19 July 2024
Horizon Europe awarded the project NAP4DIVE of ÅAU Professors Cecilia Sahlgren, Hongbo Zhang, Jessica Rosenholm, Tapani Viitala, and Sebastien Lafond 7.8 M Euro of Horizon Europe funding. This project is a joint effort of 11 partners from both academic researchers and company background. More informtaion on the project can be found in the links below:
ÅAU press release (in Swedish): Forskare utvecklar nya verktyg för läkemedel mot sjukdomar i centrala nervsystemet
Yle article (in Swedish): Det finns fungerande mediciner som vi inte kan föra in i hjärnan – Åbo Akademi styr EU-projekt som söker lösningar2-5 July 2024
Sami and Noora presented their research work at the International Vascular Biology Meeting 2024 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with the following poster titles:
"The Jagged1-Notch2 axis is important for vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation and lateral induction” (Sami)
“Role of the Notch ligand Jag 1 in cardiovascular development and function in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)” (Noora)
03 July 2024
To meet the need for bilingual services in medical and dental care in Finland, the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University created a new programme where part of the teaching is in Swedish. Malin, has been responsible for both the planning and coordination of the course content and teaches the preclinical subjects. Read more on Yle Svenska (Article in Swedish). Follow up article on Åbo Underrättelser: Tjugo blivande läkare i Åbo visar hur pakkoruotsi blir riemuruotsi
12 June 2024
Congratulations to Jordy for a successful PhD defense on the topic "Modeling mechano-regulated Notch signaling in arterial growth and remodeling"! You can also read more about his research in this article, Cell talk in the growth of blood vessel grafts, by the Eindhoven University of Technology.
06 May 2024
Aravind Kumar started as a post-doc in Cell Fate Lab. Welcome Aravind!
03-04 May 2024
Cecilia was an invited speaker at the 2nd Signaling in Disease & Development Conference in Telč, Czech Republic. Marjaana and Sami also presented their research. Marjaana's talk was titled "The Notch ligand Jagged1 promotes breast cancer aggressiveness," while Sami's talk was on "Notch2 and Notch3 in vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation."
19 April 2024
Freddy has documented his research visit in the lab of Professor Chris Chen in Boston last year in the InFlames blog post "A visit that became a developmental experience". Come check out his experience!
20-23 February 2024
Cecilia gave a talk titled "Jagged1 as an endothelial cell mechanoreceptor" at the EMBO Workshop "The new cardiobiology" at EMBL Heidelberg , Germany.