I work currently as Academy Research Fellow at the University of Turku. I graduated from the Health Biosciences Master's degree programme (University of Turku) with a major in Drug Development. Thereafter, I conducted my PhD studies at the Department of Pharmacology, Drug Development and Therapeutics and graduated in 2013. After doing a short postdoctoral research period at the Turku PET Centre, I was awarded a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Academy of Finland. During this period, I did research at the Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK) in Munich, Germany. My current affiliation is Research Center For Integrative Physiology and Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedicine, and my office is located in Medisiina C building.  

My current research projects focus on the role of melanocortin and  lipid signalling in cardiovascular diseases. In particular, the research aims at evaluating the therapeutic potential of targeting these systems for the management of atherosclerosis. We utilize both loss- and gain-of-function models as
well as pharmacological and genetic approaches to advance our understanding of
the roles of these mediators in atherosclerosis. The projects also combine various in vitro and in vivo models to achieve an extensive view
of the underlying molecular-level mechanisms.

Coronary artery disease arising from atherosclerosis is a common form of cardiovascular disease and an important public
health challenge worldwide. It is lacking effective treatments that would specifically target and reverse the underlying pathology and
disease progression, highlighting the unmet medical need. Our research projects contribute to this need by exploring the possible therapeutic benefits of targeting melanocortin and lipid mediators in atherosclerosis.