Vilja Siitonen
PhD (FT)
vksiit@utu.fi Tykistökatu 6 Turku Office: 6108 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1444-2622 |
Molecular biology; Protein biology; Bioactive small metabolites; Microbiology; Fermentation; Biotransformation, HPLC, MS, NMR, GC
Photosynthetic Microbes group
Senior Researcher, Photosynthetic Microbes -research group (www.utu.fi/photo-microbes) (2025–
Postdoctoral Researcher, Photosynthetic Microbes -research group (2020–2025)
Postdoctoral Researcher, ABE Lab – Antibiotic Biosynthetic Engineering -research group (https://abelab.utu.fi) (2017–2020)
Doctoral student, ABE Lab – Antibiotic Biosynthetic Engineering -research group (2011–2016)
Research assistant, ABE Lab – Antibiotic Biosynthetic Engineering -research group (2009–2010)
Summer trainee, University of Salzburg (https://www.plus.ac.at/) (2007)
My research in the Photosynthetic Microbes -research group focuses on utilizing green algae and cyanobacteria as biocatalysts or cell factories.
My previous research in the ABE -research group focused on soil bacteria, their fermentation, genetic modification, and the structural analysis of the compounds they produce, as well as studying the functions of proteins involved in antibiotic biosynthesis.
I have taught some parts on these courses:
Photosynthetic Biotechnologies (DIBT0608-3001) (2025)
Applied Photosynthesis Research - Theory (KABI4015) (2023, 2024)
Applied Photosynthesis Research - Practical (KABI4016-3002) (2021, 2022)
Harjoitustyö biokemian tutkimusryhmässä I/II (BKEM1028/1029) (2011–2019, 8 x 1 month)
Molekyylibiologian harjoitustyöt (BKEM1010) (2011)
I have supervised theses at different levels of studies.
I have studied university pedagogy 10 ECTS.
- Facultative predation expands the ecological repertoire of Streptomyces (2026)
- mBio
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Photosynthetic engineered living materials incorporating recombinant Chlamydomonas reinhardtii enable long-term semi-continuous photobiotransformation (2026)
- New Biotechnology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Over four months of ethylene production: Unlocking the potential of solid-state photosynthetic cell factories (2025) Kosourov, Sergey; Siitonen, Vilja; Tóth, Gábor; Levä, Tuukka; Tammelin, Tekla; Kallio, Pauli; Allahverdiyeva, Yagut
(Other publication) - ActVI-ORFA directs metabolic flux towards actinorhodin by preventing intermediate degradation (2024)
- PLoS ONE
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Employing photocurable biopolymers to engineer photosynthetic 3D-printed living materials for production of chemicals (2024)
- Green Chemistry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Mechanism of Two-Component Mono-Oxygenases Involved in Anthracycline 1-Hydroxylation (2024)
- ACS Catalysis
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Sucrose as an electron source for cofactor regeneration in recombinant Escherichia coli expressing invertase and a Baeyer Villiger monooxygenase (2024)
- Microbial Cell Factories
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Bakteerien avulla antibiootteja mikrobi- ja syöpälääkkeiksi (2023)
- Duodecim
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Bioinspired mechanically stable all-polysaccharide based scaffold for photosynthetic production (2023)
- Journal of Materials Chemistry. B
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Co-factor independent oxidases ncnN and actVA-3 are involved in the dimerization of benzoisochromanequinone antibiotics in naphthocyclinone and actinorhodin biosynthesis (2023)
- FEMS Microbiology Letters
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



