Sirpa Jalkanen
Professor of Immunology, Academician
sirjal@utu.fi +358 29 450 4379 +358 40 566 9611 Tykistökatu 6 Turku ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1922-9732 |
Immunology, inflammation, cancer, drug development, biomarkers
Academician Sirpa Jalkanen is Academy Professor and Professorof Immunology at the Medical Faculty, University of Turku. After her postdoctoral period at Stanford University she has worked in different researcher positions at the University of Turku, Finnish National Institute of Health and Welfare as well as the Academy of Finland. Recently, she has also worked first as a vice chair and then as a chair of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. She is the director of the MediCity Research Laboratory (the Research Unit of the Medical Faculty, University of Turku).
The main interest of Sirpa Jalkanen’s research group has been in the mechanisms mediating the cell trafficking in harmful inflammations and cancer. She has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and has more than 10 patents. She is an EMBO member and a member of Academia Europae and has received several awards and honours such as Eli Lilly award, Maud Kuistila Prize, Anders Jahre Prize, Äyräpää Prize, Datta Medal, and 2ndEuropean Women Innovator Prize and the Finnish Pharma Industry Prize.
She has also several positions of trust. She is a member of the board in three big Finnish Foundations financing research In addition she is a member of the board of Orion, the biggest pharmaceutical company in Finland and has been a co-founder of two biotech companies.
The overall goal of the research of the Jalkanen group is to elucidate the mechanisms regulating the traffic of leukocytes and cancer cells in the body. The focus is both on blood and lymphatic vasculature. Harmful leukocyte migration into the joints in rheumatoid arthritis and into the pancreas in diabetes are examples of diseases where leukocytes cause extensive destruction. These inflammatory diseases can be cured by inhibiting leukocyte trafficking. Also metastasising malignant cells often use the same mechanisms as leukocytes when extravasating from blood to different organs or migrating via the lymphatics into distant sites. The results obtained can be utilized when new types of drugs are developed to treat harmful inflammations and cancer. The group utilises the most modern imaging techniques, animal models, molecular and cell biology methods including single cell sequencing and mass cytometry and is intimately collaborating with clinicians.
I have been teaching immunology for medical students since 1981. However, my main contribution is to train PhD students and postdoctoral fellows.
- Macrophage mannose receptor CD206 targeting of fluoride‐18 labeled mannosylated dextran: A validation study in mice (2024)
- European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Aerobic exercise training and gut microbiome-associated metabolic shifts in women with overweight: a multi-omic study (2023)
- Scientific Reports
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Detection of Intestinal Inflammation by Vascular Adhesion Protein-1-Targeted [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 Positron Emission Tomography in Murine Models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (2023)
- Molecular Imaging and Biology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Inflammatory Diseases, Inflammatory Biomarkers, and Alzheimer Disease: An Observational Analysis and Mendelian Randomization (2023)
- Neurology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Inflammatory proteomics profiling for prediction of incident atrial fibrillation (2023)
- Heart
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Lymph node lymphatic endothelial cells as multifaceted gatekeepers in the immune system (2023)
- Trends in Immunology
(Refereed review article in scientific journal (A2)) - Lymphocyte Adhesion and Trafficking (2023) Clinical Immunology: Principles and Practice Jalkanen Sirpa, Salmi Marko
(Article in a professional research book (D2)) - Newly identified form of phenotypic plasticity of cancer: immunogenic mimicry (2023)
- Cancer and Metastasis Reviews
(Refereed review article in scientific journal (A2)) - Polymorphism in interferon alpha/beta receptor contributes to glucocorticoid response and outcome of ARDS and COVID-19 (2023)
- Critical Care
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Prognostic Values of Tissue and Serum Angiogenic Growth Factors Depend on the Phenotypic Subtypes of Colorectal Cancer (2023)
- Cancers
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Prolonged Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome After Cardiac Surgery (2023)
- Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Serum cytokine profiles in patients with pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis (2023)
- Pancreatology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - The interplay between inflammatory cytokines and cardiometabolic disease: bi-directional mendelian randomisation study (2023) Karhunen Ville, Gill Dipender, Huang Jian, Bouras Emmanouil, Malik Rainer, Ponsford Mark J, Ahola-Olli Ari, Papadopoulou Areti, Palaniswamy Saranya, Sebert Sylvain, Wielscher Matthias, Auvinen Juha, Veijola Juha, Herzig Karl-Heinz, Timonen Markku, Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi Sirkka, Dichgans Martin, Salmi Marko, Jalkanen Sirpa, Lehtimäki Terho, Salomaa Veikko, Raitakari Olli, Jones Simon A, Hovingh G Kees, Tsilidis Konstantinos K, Järvelin Marjo-Riitta, Dehghan Abbas
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Vascular adhesion protein-1-targeted PET imaging in autoimmune myocarditis (2023)
- Journal of Nuclear Cardiology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - A plasma metabolite score of three eicosanoids predicts incident type 2 diabetes: a prospective study in three independent cohorts (2022)
- BMJ open diabetes research and care
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Autoantibodies to Type I Interferons: The Chicken or the Egg? (2022)
- Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research
(Article or data-article in scientific journal (B1)) - BRAFV600E Expression in Thyrocytes Causes Recruitment of Immunosuppressive STABILIN-1 Macrophages (2022)
- Cancers
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Cancer immunotherapies transition endothelial cells into HEVs that generate TCF1+ T lymphocyte niches through a feed-forward loop (2022)
- Cancer Cell
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - CD73 controls ocular adenosine levels and protects retina from light-induced phototoxicity (2022)
- Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Circulating inflammatory cytokines and risk of five cancers: a Mendelian randomization analysis (2022)
- BMC Medicine
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))