Description of research and teaching

Forest Tree Cambial Research (FORCAM) group

Lateral growth in plants originates from the vascular cambium, where stem cells are located. Cambium provides thickness to plant organs by generating conductive tissues - xylem (wood) toward the center and phloem toward the organ periphery. Vascular development continues as long as the plant grows, and proliferation and differentiation of these tissues from the cambium is controlled not only laterally but also along the plant body. As of January 2022, I have started establishing my independent research group at the University of Helsinki. In my research I am interested in understanding molecular mechanisms that regulate cambial development, lateral growth and vascular continuity in plants using tree (poplar and birch) stems and Arabidopsis roots as model systems.

Project overviews

Through a functional genomics approach, we have identified several novel transcription factors (TFs) that are activated by the plant hormone cytokinin, an enhancer of cambial cell division rate and lateral growth in plants. Currently we are exploring how these TFs regulate thickening of plant organs both in hybrid aspen trees and Arabidopsis roots using state-of-the-art molecular biology tools, such as knocking them out via CRISPR-Cas9 or tissue specific inducible overexpression and (live) confocal imaging.

We also would like to study how trees respond to local changes in cambial activity in short and long term and how vascular continuity and physiology along the tree trunk is affected from these changes. For this purpose, we are designing an innovative new system to genetically inhibit lateral growth at different heights along the plant body through inducible knockout of a cambial factor.

Finally, we would like to identify more key loci driving enhanced growth and carbon sink in trees through comparative single cell transcriptome analysis of Arabidopsis, birch and poplar and test systematically the roles of different candidate genes.

Supervision

• 01.02.2024 – present: Main supervisor for post-doctoral researcher Dr. Tiina Blomster (University of Helsinki)
• 01.10.2023 – 30.04.2024: Main supervisor for post-doctoral researcher Dr. Riikka Mäkilä (University of Helsinki)
• 10.10.2022 – present: Main supervisor for doctoral researcher MSc. George M. Woodward (University of Helsinki, preliminary defense date: October 2026)
• 03.10.2022 – present: Main supervisor for doctoral researcher MSc. Wiktoria Fatz (University of Helsinki, preliminary defense date: October 2026)
• 01.09.2019 – present: Co-supervisor for doctoral researcher MSc. Leo Vainio with Prof. Dr. Ari Pekka Mähönen (University of Helsinki, preliminary defense date: June 2025)
• 02.05.2023 – 31.08.2024: Supervisor for MSc. degree student Elli Koukkari (From University of Helsinki, Finland, summer trainee 2023-2024)
• 29.08.2022 – 16.12.2022: Supervisor to Erasmus Exchange BSc. degree student Margarida Lourenco (From Politécnico de Lisboa, Portugal, project work)
• 01.09.2021 – 31.05.2022: Supervisor for MSc. degree student Suzan Kumer Bhadhury (Erasmus-Mundus MSc, emPLANT, University of Helsinki, master thesis, defended June 2022)
• 02.09.2019 – 31.01.2019: Supervisor to Erasmus Exchange technical degree student Markus Jan Heidema (From MboRijnland, The Netherlands, project work)
• 25.03.2019 – 16.08.2019: Supervisor to Erasmus Exchange MSc. degree student Iris Zahn (From Wageningen University, The Netherlands, project work)
• 01.07.2018 – 31.08.2018: Supervisor to Erasmus Exchange BSc. degree student Marta Ibáñez Lazaro (from University of Zaragoza, Spain, summer trainee)

Teaching

• IPS-111, Plant Developmental Biology (lecturer), University of Helsinki, Finland (2020 to 2024)
• IPS-002, Plants in a Changing World (lecturer), University of Helsinki, Finland (2023, 2024)
• FOR-231, Basic Biotechnology Applications in Forestry (lecturer), University of Helsinki, Finland (2024)
• AGRI-285, Translational Plant Biology (lecturer), University of Helsinki, Finland (2024)
• IPS-131, Advanced Molecular Biology (laboratory TA), University of Helsinki, Finland (2018, 2021)
• Effects of auxin and cytokinin on organogenesis in tissue culture (laboratory TA), UPSC, Umeå, Sweden, (2010 to 2014)
• Plant Anatomy Laboratory (laboratory TA), UPSC, Sweden, (2011 to 2013)