Research interests

I joined Group Hanna M. Ollila, ”Genetics of Sleep, Circadian Rhythms and Brain Autoimmunity” at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), as a Postdoctoral Researcher in February 2021. My main projects involve genetics and molecular mechanisms of sleep-related phenotypes and Long COVID. I am coordinating the international Long COVID Host Genetics Initiative collaboration, aiming to elucidate why some people suffer from lingering symptoms for months or even years after the acute phase of COVID-19 infection. 

I have always been interested in the bidirectional interplay of the brain and the peripheral systems. My background is in biochemistry, but during my master's studies and PhD project I started swimming from the wet lab towards data analyses and computational methods. My PhD research with Dr Tarja Porkka-Heiskanen (Stenberg) at the Sleep Team Helsinki focused on the effects of sleep loss on the immune system and metabolism. This included analysing transcriptomics and metabolomics data from experimentally sleep-deprived young males and epidemiological cohorts (as a visiting researcher with Prof Tiina Paunio at the National Institute for Health and Welfare). In addition to keeping young human males awake for extended periods, I also developed a sleep deprivation method for zebrafish larvae.

The last few years I was keeping vigil in another sense, developing the safety and availability of Finnish health and welfare services, as a data scientist at the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health.

When I'm not tackling life science problems in silico, I'm tackling people on rugby pitch, practicing acrobatics in circus trainings, or escaping from rooms.