Meet the Team

  • Cecilia Sahlgren

    Principal investigator (ÅAU and TU/e), Professor of Cell Biology (ÅAU), Professor in Biomedical Engineering (TU/e)

  • Malin Åkerfelt

    Senior researcher (ÅAU)

    PI of The Cellular Microenvironment Lab

  • Kati Kemppainen

    Project coordinator (ÅAU)

  • Elenaé Vázquez-Ulloa

    Post-doctoral researcher (ÅAU)

    Project: Jagged interactions in neuroendocrine cancer

  • Elena Martinez-Klimova

    Post-doctoral researcher (ÅAU)

    Project: Bioelectronic control of cell functions

Alumni:

PhD students

  • Laura Tiemeijer (2022, ÅAU), next step: pharmaceutical specialist at Organon, the Netherlands

  • Valeriy Paramonov (2021, UTU), next step: postdoctoral researcher at Karolinska Institute, Sweden

  • Nicole van Engeland (2021, ÅAU), next step: system test engineer at ASML, the Netherlands

  • Daniel Antfolk (2020, ÅAU), next step: postdoctoral researcher at Moffitt Cancer Center, USA

  • Christian Antila (2020, ÅAU), next step: postdoctoral researcher at the Päivi Koskinen lab, University of Turku, Finland

  • Jelle Sleebom (2020, TU/e), next step: postdoctoral researcher at the Jaap den Toonder lab, TU/e Mechanical Engineering, the Netherlands

  • Rob Driessen (2020, TU/e), next step: project manager at Mechanobiology Services Eindhoven (MS/e), the Netherlands

  • Arianna Mauretti (2018, TU/e), next step: junior researcher QC at Merck Group, Italy

  • Iris Lähdeniemi (2018, ÅAU, co-supervised with Diana Toivola), next step: postdoctoral researcher at Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Finland

  • Sebastian Landor (2016, KI, co-supervised with Urban Lendahl), next step: postdoctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University

  • Marika Sjöqvist (2015, ÅAU), next step: postdoctoral researcher at the Emma Andersson lab, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

  • Anders Mutvei (2014, KI, co-supervised by Urban Lendahl), next step: postdoctoral researcher at the John Blenis lab at Weill Cornell Medicine / Harvard Medical School, USA; PI, Uppsala University, Sweden

Postdocs

  • Oscar Stassen, next step: postdoctoral researches at the Jaap den Toonder lab, TU/e, the Netherlands

  • Hetty Manenschijn

  • Sebastian Landor

  • Johanna Ahlskog, next step: senior scientist, Orion Corporation, Finland

  • Marika Sjöqvist, next step: design transfer specialist, Perkin Elmer, Finland

  • Tommaso Ristori, next step: postdoctoral researcher at the Christopher S. Chen lab, Boston University, USA; assistant professor, TU/e, the Netherlands

  • Jolanta Lundgren, next step: postdoctoral researcher at the Pirta Hotulainen lab, University of Helsinki, Finland

  • Adolfo Rivero-Müller, next step: professor at Medical University of Lublin, Poland

  • Veronika Mamaeva, deceased with dignity 6.1.2018

MSc students, research technicians, research assistants

  • Valtteri Lempinen (ÅAU, 2022)

  • Emma Suhonen (ÅAU, 2021)

  • Sara Koivuluoma (ÅAU, 2021), next step: Precordior, Finland

  • Iris M.T. Pijnenburg (TU/e, 2021)

  • C. van den Bersselaar (TU/e, 2021)

  • D.D.J.I. Bakker (TU/e, 2021)

  • Linda Boekestijn (TU/e, 2021)

  • Jaakko Ahlberg (ÅAU, 2021), next step: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Finland

  • Iida-Maria Laiho (ÅAU, 2020-2022), next step: Orion Corporation, Finland

  • Lana Selhorst (TU/e, 2020)

  • T.N.E. Volleman (TU/e, 2020)

  • Sami Sanlidag (ÅAU, 2019), next step: PhD student at Cell Fate Lab, Finland

  • Jakob Storbacka (ÅAU, 2019), next step: chemistry and biology teacher, Finland

  • Janine Grolleman (TU/e, 2018), next step: PhD student at Cell Fate Lab, the Netherlands

  • R.A. Quiñonez Uribe (TU/e, 2016)

  • Jelle Sleeboom (TU/e, 2016), next step: PhD student at Cell Fate Lab, the Netherlands

  • Laura Tiemeijer (TU/e, 2016), next step: PhD student at Cell Fate Lab, the Netherlands

  • F.E. Nieuweboer (TU/e, 2016)

  • Rob Driessen (TU/e, 2015), next step: PhD student at Cell Fate Lab, the Netherlands

  • M.J.H. Vogel (TU/e, 2015)

  • B.C.A. Zwarthoed (TU/e, 2015)

  • G.J. Lancee (TU/e, 2014)

  • M.I. Verspoor (TU/e, 2014)

National and international collaborators:

  • Associate professor Emma R. Andersson, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

  • Associate professor Kayla Bayless, Texas A&M University, USA

  • Dr. Katie Bentley, Francis Crick Institute, UK

  • Professor Carlijn Bouten, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

  • Professor Christopher Chen, Boston University, USA

  • Assistant professor Vito Conte, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands and IBEC, Spain

  • Professor Patricia Dankers, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

  • Professor Jaap den Toonder, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

  • Professor John Eriksson, Åbo Akademi University, Finland

  • Professor Penny Handford, University of Oxford, UK

  • Professor Apostolos Klinakis, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Greece

  • Adjunct professor, Päivi Koskinen, University of Turku, Finland

  • Professor Rhett Kovall, University of Cincinnati, USA

  • Professor Urban Lendahl, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

  • Professor Bernhard Lendl, Vienna University of Technology, Austria

  • Professor Mika Lindén, Ulm University, Germany

  • Associate professor Sandra Loerakker, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

  • Professor Milos Pekny, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

  • Professor Jessica Rosenholm, Åbo Akademi University, Finland

  • Professor Chris Siebel, Genentech, USA

  • Associate professor Diana Toivola, Åbo Akademi University, Finland

  • Professor Per Uhlén, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

  • Assistant professor Ye Wang, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

  • Professor Ioanna Zergioti, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, National Technical University of Athens, Greece

  • Professor Ronald Österbacka, Åbo Akademi University, Finland

and many valuable collaborators at Åbo Akademi University within Cell Biology, Pharmacy, Physics Chemistry and Molecular Modeling.