People | VACCIM | Tampere Universities

Heikki Hyöty

Professor
virologia
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology
Tampere University
+358505168480
heikki.hyoty@tuni.fi

Eeva Moilanen

Professor
Pharmacology
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology
Tampere University
+358503056678
eeva.moilanen@tuni.fi

About me

At Tampere University I am serving as the Professor of Pharmacology (since 1999) and as the Chair of the Academic Board (Konsistori). I am also the Chair of the Council of the Finnish Union of University Professors.

I am responsible for teaching pharmacology and clinical pharmacology at the Medical Curriculum at Tampere University; in research, I am running The Immunopharmacology Research Group with 20 members affiliated at Tampere University and Tampere University Hospital. I am MD for my first university degree, and had my doctoral (MD,PhD) and post-doctoral education in Finland (at the University of Tampere, in Professor Heikki Vapaatalo’s laboratory) and in U.K. (at the Wellcome Research Laboratories, in Professor Salvador Moncada’s research group).

My research is focusing on the mechanisms of inflammation aiming to identify and validate novel anti-inflammatory mechanisms, treatment targets and molecules especially in (osteo)arthritis and in allergic diseases. Previously, the focus was mainly on the regulation of eicosanoids and in the nitric oxide / iNOS pathway while more recently my interest has turned to wider gene expression signatures characteristic to different phenotypes of inflammation. The most recent research projects aim to understand the role of adipokines as well as MAP kinase / MAP kinase phosphatase pathways in arthritis; and the TRPA1 ion channel mediated signals in the pathogenesis of inflammation and in the inflammatory pain. We are also investigating the low-grade inflammation associated with obesity and its co-morbidities, and dietary and pharmacological means to suppress inflammation to promote metabolically healthier obesity.

I have supervised 29 PhD students (and seven now on-going) and published more than 350 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and edited a couple of textbooks in pharmacology.

I have served full terms as the President of the Federation of European Pharmacological Societies (EPHAR), as a Member of the Executive Committee of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) and as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI), as well as the Chair of the Finnish Pharmacological Society and the Finnish Osteoarthritis Research Society. For further details, see my CV below.

I am living in Tampere with my husband Teemu Moilanen, orthopedic surgeon and Medical Director at Coxa Hospital for Joint Replacement. I am a mother of three adult sons and have four lovely grandchildren. In the leisure time I enjoy trekking and skiing.

Vesa Hytönen

Professor
solu- ja molekyylibiologia
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology
Tampere University
+358401901517
vesa.hytonen@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9357-1480

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About me

I am interested in protein function and interactions. In particular, I would like to understand how mechanical signals regulate protein conformation and function.

Responsibilities

Olen solu- ja molekyylibiologian professori. Johdan monitieteistä tutkimusryhmää. Toimin Biosciences-yksikön (BIO) päällikkönä.

Field of expertise

Protein engineering, mechanobiology, vaccine research, protein interactions

Research career

PhD University of Jyväskylä 2005

Postdoc ETH Zurich 2005-07

Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher 2007-10

Academy Research Fellow 2010-15

Associate Professor 2016-20

Professor 2020-

Funding

Main positions of trust

Selected publications

10 recent articles:

Muktesh Athale, Neil Ball, Latifeh Azizi, Irene Valenzuela, Marta Codina, Andrea Martin-Nalda, Vasyl V. Mykuliak, Rolle Rahikainen, Benjamin T. Goult*, Paula Turkki*, Vesa P. Hytönen* (2025). De novo talin-1 variant L353F connects multifaceted clinical symptoms to alterations in talin-1 function. Biochem. J. 482(18):1337-1352

Latifeh Azizi, Yasumi Otani, Vasyl V Mykuliak, Benjamin T Goult, Vesa P Hytönen, Paula Turkki Talin-1 variants associated with spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) highlight how even subtle changes in multi-functional scaffold proteins can manifest in disease (2024). Hum Mol Genet. 33, 1846-1857.

Vili Lampinen*, Markus J.T. Ojanen, Fernanda Munoz Caro, Stina Gröhn, Minna M. Hankaniemi, Marko Pesu, Vesa P. Hytönen. Experimental VLP vaccine displaying a furin antigen elicits production of autoantibodies and is well tolerated in mice (2024). Nanoscale Adv., 6, 6239-6252.

Vasyl V Mykuliak, Rolle Rahikainen, Neil J Ball, Giovanni Bussi, Benjamin T Goult, Vesa P Hytönen. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal how vinculin refolds partially unfolded talin rod helices to stabilize them against mechanical force (2024). PLoS Comput. Biol. 20, e1012341.

Rolle Rahikainen, Susan K Vester, Paula Turkki, Chasity P Janosko, Alexander Deiters, Vesa P Hytönen*, Mark Howarth*. Visible light-induced specific protein reaction delineates early stages of cell adhesion (2023). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 145, 24459–24465

Latifeh Azizi, Lorena Varela, Paula Turkki, Vasyl V Mykuliak, Sanna Korpela, Teemu O Ihalainen, Joseph Church, Vesa P Hytönen, Benjamin T Goult. Talin variant P229S compromises integrin activation and associates with multifaceted clinical symptoms (2022). Hum. Mol. Genet. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddac163.

Jenni Leppiniemi, Zeeshan Mutahir, Alexander Dulebo, Piia Mikkonen, Markus Nuopponen, Paula Turkki, Vesa P Hytönen (2021) Avidin-Conjugated Nanofibrillar Cellulose Hydrogel Functionalized with Biotinylated Fibronectin and Vitronectin Promotes 3D Culture of Fibroblasts. Biomacromolecules 22, 4122-4137.

Vili Lampinen, Suvi Heinimäki, Olli Laitinen, Marko Pesu, Minna Hankaniemi*, Vesna Blazevic*, Vesa P. Hytönen* (2021) Modular vaccine platform based on the norovirus-like particle. J. Nanobiotech., 19, 1-14.

Latifeh Azizi, Alana R. Cowell, Vasyl V. Mykuliak, Benjamin T. Goult*, Paula Turkki*, Vesa P. Hytönen* (2021) Cancer associated talin point mutations disorganise cell adhesion and migration. Sci. Rep., 11, 347.

Pingfeng Zhang, Latifeh Azizi, Sampo Kukkurainen*, Tong Gao*, Mo Baikoghli*, Marie-Claude Jacquiere*, Yijuan Sun, Juha A. E. Määttä, R. Holland Cheng, Bernhard Wehrle-Haller, Vesa P. Hytönen, Jinhua Wu (2020) Crystal structure of the FERM-folded talin head reveals the determinants for integrin binding. PNAS, 117, 32402-32412.

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Ilkka Junttila

Clinical Researcher
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology
Tampere University
+358503186352
ilkka.junttila@tuni.fi

Oommen Podiyan

Grant Holder
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology
Tampere University
oommen.oommen@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2768-0133

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About me

Albert Einstein has said 'if you have never failed, you never tried anything new'. Integrating your expertise into new areas outside your domain of expertises and taking calculated risks, makes one a productive scientist.

I am an organic chemist by training and a biologist at heart. Harnessing the transformative power of synthetic chemistry for biomedical application is the primary goal of my research. I aim to bridge this knowledge gap and develop translational technologies for various biomedical needs. As a trained organic chemist, I have the advantage of being able to tailor the properties of the materials and thus tune their immunological and cellular functions. Currently, my research spreads over diverse areas: Nanomedicine, drug delivery, gene delivery, cardiac and bone tissue engineering, stem cell engineering for transplantation, immunomodulation of cells and materials and developing bioconjugation strategies.

Responsibilities

Teaching Responsibilities: I am the course coordinator for two Master’s courses, namely: Nanomedicine & Advanced Drug Delivery Technologies(BBT.BTE.306, 5 ECTS), and Tissue Engineering Applications (BBT.BTE.304, 5 ECTS). The essence of my teaching philosophy is that research and teaching are strongly coupled. As these two subjects are close to my research activity, the content of my lectures are structured such that research and application are strongly engaged. The lectures are research-oriented compilations of state-of-the-artdevelopments in the scientific fields.

Research Mentor: I am currently supervising three Ph.D. student; Mr. Sumanta Samanta, Mr. Austin D. Evans, and Ms. Negin Pournoori and three Master’s students. The supervision includes designing new projects, monitor overall academic progress, giving training in fabrication and characterization of soft materials and nanoparticles. I have developed my research supervision strategy based on my interactions with research students.

Research unit

Bioengineering and Nanomedicine Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology

Research fields

Tissue Engineering of Tumor Microenvironment, Nanomedicine, Engineering 3D scaffold, Bioconjugation Chemistry, Cell Engineering

Funding

Main positions of trust

● Remote reviewer for ERC Starting Grant (PE11 Panel; 2021)

● Associate Editor, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

● Co-founder and partner of a spin-off called ‘Uppsala Therapeutics AB’

● Editorial board member of the journal ‘Frontiers in Nanotechnology’

● International Advisory Board Member for H2020 ERA-Chair project TRANSCEND-IRO (ESEI-BioMed)-Romania (2020-2026)

● Scientific Advisory Board Member, European Society of Biomaterials

● Scientific board member of European Chapter Meeting of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society

● Expert grant reviewer in ‘Discipline for Physical Sciences and Engineering’ for the National Science Center, Poland (2016-2018)

● Expert grant reviewer for ‘Sir Henry Welcome Trust Post-Doctoral Fellowship’, UK. (2021)

● Guest editor of the JuFo1 journal ‘Disease Markers’ an open access journal from Hindawi

● 2016- Organizing Committee Member and Scientific Advisory Board, TERMIS Europe 2016/ Uppsala/ Sweden

● May 2012 Organizing Committee Member and Sessions Chair/ 22nd Interdisciplinary Research Conference on Biomaterials, ‘GRIBOI’/ Uppsala University/ Sweden

● Reviewer for the leading peer-reviewed journals: Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials; Biomaterials; Biomacromolecules; ACS Applied Materials and Interface; Scientific Reports; Acta Biomaterialia; Chemical Communications; Small; Nanoscale; Biomaterials Science; Macromolecular Bioscience; Molecular Biosystems; RSC Advance; Journal of Materials Chemistry B; Soft Matter, etc.

Selected publications

Some of my selected publications in the field of nanomedicine, drug and gene delivery, cell engineering & tissue engineering.

Biomimetic polyelectrolyte coating of stem cells suppresses thrombotic activation and enhances its survival and function, V. K. Rangasami, K. Asawa, Y. Teramura, K. L. Blanc, B. Nilsson, J. Hilborn, O. P. Varghese, O. P. Oommen, Biomaterials Advances, 2023, 147, 213331.

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Hyaluronic acid based next generation bioink for 3D bioprinting of human stem cell derived corneal stromal model with innervation, A. Moro, S. Samanta, L. Honkamäki, V. K. Rangasami, P. Puistola, M. Kauppila, S. Narkilahti, S. Miettinen, O. P. Oommen, H. Skottman, Biofabrications, 2023, 15 (1), 015020.

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Heparin-derived theranostic nanoprobes overcome the blood-brain barrier and target glioma in murine model, S. Samanta, V. Le Joncour, O. Wegrzyniak, V. Rangasami, H. Ali-Loytty, T. Hong, R. K. Selvaraju, O. Aberg, J. Hilborn, P. Laakkonen, O. P. Varghese, O. Eriksson, H. Cabral, O. P. Oommen, Advanced Therapeutics, 2022, 2200001

Article Link

Bidirectional cell-matrix interaction dictates neuronal network formation in a brain mimetic 3D scaffold, S. Samanta, L. Ylä-Outinen, V. K. Rangasami, S. Narkilahti and O. P. Oommen, Acta Biomaterialia, 2022, 140, 314-323.

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Interpenetrating gallol functionalized tissue adhesive hyaluronic acid hydrogel polarizes macrophages to an immunosuppressive phenotype, S. Samanta, V. K. Rangasami, H. Sarlus, J. R. K Samal, A. D. Evans, V. S Parihar, O. P. Varghese, R. A. Harris, O. P. Oommen, Acta Biomaterialia, 2022, 142, 36-48.

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Pluronic Micelle-Mediated Tissue Factor Silencing Enhances Hemocompatibility, Stemness, Differentiation Potential, and Paracrine Signaling of Mesenchymal Stem Cells, V. K. Rangasami, G. Nawale, K. Asawa, S. Kadekar, S. Samanta, B. Nilsson, K. N Ekdahl, S. Miettinen, J. Hilborn, Y. Teramura, O. P. Varghese, O. P. Oommen, Biomacromolecules, 2021, 22 (5), 1980-1989.

Article Link

Harnessing hyaluronic acid-based nanoparticles for combination therapy: A novel approach for suppressing systemic inflammation and to promote antitumor macrophage polarization, V. K. Rangasami, S. Samanta, V. S, Parihar, K. Asawa, K. Zhu, O. P. Varghese, B. Nilsson, J. Hilborn, R. A. Harris, O. P. Oommen, Carbohydrate Polymers, 2021, 254, 117291.

Article Link

ILC1 drive intestinal epithelial and matrix remodelling, G. M. Jowett, M. D. A. Norman, T. T. L. Yu, P. Rosell Arévalo, D. Hoogland, S. T. Lust, E. Read, E. Hamrud, N. J. Walters, U. Niazi, M. W. H. Chung, D. Marciano, O. S. Omer, T. Zabinski, D. Danovi, G. M. Lord, J. Hilborn, N. D. Evans, C. A. Dreiss, L. Bozec, O. P. Oommen, C. D. Lorenz, R. M. P. da Silva, J. F. Neves, E. Gentleman, Nature Materials 2021, 20 (2), 250-259.

Article Link

Unexpected role of hyaluronic acid in trafficking siRNA across cellular barrier: First biomimetic, anionic, non-viral transfection method, M. Paidikondala, V. K. Rangasami, G. N. Nawale, T. Casalini, G. Perale, S. Kadekar, G. Mohanty, T. Salminen, O. P. Oommen,* O. P. Varghese,* Angew. Chem. Int. Edn., 2019, 58 (9), 2815-2819.

Article Link

Tissue Adhesive Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogels for Sutureless Stem Cell Delivery and Regeneration of Corneal Epithelium and Stroma, L. Koivusalo, M. Kauppila, T. Ilmarinen, S. Samanta, V. S. Parihar, S. Miettinen, O. P. Oommen,* H. Skottman,* Biomaterials, 2019, 225, 119516.

Article Link

First Aldol Cross-linked Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogel: Fast and Hydrolytically Stable Hydrogel with Tissue Adhesive Properties, D. Bermejo-Velasco, S. Kadekar, M. V. T. da Costa, O. P. Oommen, K. Gamstedt, J. Hilborn, O. P. Varghese, ACS Applied Materials and Interface, 2019, 11 (41), 38232-38239.

Article Link

Bi-directional cell-pericellular matrix interactions direct stem cell fate, S. A. Ferreira, M. S. Motwani, P. A. Faull, A. J. Seymour, T. T.L. Yu, M. Enayati, D. K. Taheem, E. M. Kania, O. P. Oommen, T. Ahmed, S. Loaiza, K. Parzych, F. Dazzi, H. W. Auner, O. P. Varghese, F. Festy, A. E. Grigoriadis, A. P. Snijders, L. Bozec, E. Gentleman, Nature Communications, 2018, 9, 4049.

Article Link

Synthetic design of growth factor sequestering extracellular matrix mimetic hydrogel for promoting in vivo bone formation, H. Yan, T. Casalini, G. Hulsart-Billström, S. Wang, O. P. Oommen, M. Salvalaglio, S. Larsson, J. Hilborn, O. P. Varghese, Biomaterials 2018, 161, 190-202.

Article Link

Multifunctional Hyaluronic Acid and Chondroitin Sulfate Nanoparticles: Impact of Glycosaminoglycan Presentation on Receptor Mediated Cellular Uptake and Immune Activation, O. P. Oommen,* C. Duehrkop, B. Nilsson, J. Hilborn and O. P. Varghese, ACS Applied Materials and Interface, 2016, 8, 20614–20624

Article Link

Chondroitin Sulfate Coated Gold Nanoparticles: A New Strategy to Resolve Multidrug Resistance and Thromboinflammation, D. Gurav, O. P. Varghese, O. A. Hamad, B. Nilsson, J. Hilborn, O. P. Oommen,* Chemical Communications, 2016, 52, 966-969

Article Link

Chondroitin Sulfate-Coated DNA-Nanoplexes Enhance Transfection Efficiency by Controlling Plasmid Release from Endosomes: A New Insight into Modulating Nonviral Gene Transfection, H. Yan, O. P. Oommen, D. Yu, J. Hilborn, H. Qian, O. P. Varghese, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2015, 25, 3907–3915.

Article Link

Smart design of stable extracellular matrix mimetic hydrogel: synthesis, characterization, in vitro and in vivo evaluation for tissue engineering, O. P. Oommen, S. Wang, M. Kisiel, M. Sloff, J. Hilborn and O. P. Varghese Adv. Funct. Mater., 2013, 23, 1273–1280.

Article Link

Microencapsulation of cells, including islets, within stable ultra-thin membranes of maleimide-conjugated PEG-lipid with multifunctional crosslinkers, Y. Teramura, O. P. Oommen, J. Olerud, J. Hilborn, B Nilsson, Biomaterials, 2013, 34, 2683-2693.

Article Link

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Mika Rämet

Professor
lääketiteellinen teknologia ja bioteknologia, alana kokeellinen immunologia
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology
Tampere University
+358504336276
mika.ramet@tuni.fi

Vaccim group leaders

Heikki Hyöty

Eeva Moilanen

Vesa Hytönen

Ilkka Junttila

Oommen Podiyan

Mika Rämet