Finnish Diabetes Association PhD thesis award to Essi Laajala
Dr. Essi Laajala was awarded second prize for her PhD thesis in the field of diabetes study by the Finnish Diabetes Association. The award was given at this year’s Diabetes Day organized on November 16th in Grand Marina Congress Center, in Helsinki. Finnish Diabetes Association annually awards young researchers who have done their PhD in the field of diabetes research.
Dr. Essi Laajala did her PhD work in Prof. Riitta Lahesmaa’s group in Turku Bioscience Centre and was co-supervised by Prof. Harri Lähdesmäki from Aalto University. In her PhD thesis Dr. Laajala established that differences in gene expression in children developing type 1 diabetes versus healthy children can be observed already before the onset of type 1 diabetes. The differentially expressed genes were associated with innate immunity. Laajala’s results also suggest that the environment influences the immune system development already in-utero. These novel findings may offer possibilities to develop therapies to delay and treat the onset of type 1 diabetes at early stage. The doctoral study belongs to Academy of Finland InFLAMES flagship program.
“I was thankful to be invited to present my thesis at the Diabetes Day. It was definitely a highlight for me this year. I have always enjoyed working for these projects as a bioinformatician, but it’s even more important to know that people are actually reading our papers and eager to hear about them”, Laajala comments.
https://www.diabetestutkimus.fi/tukijat_ja_tutkijat_kertovat/essi_laajala_-_diabetestutkija
Recent Posts
- Participate to Open Hardware Workshop, sign up now! Access to research hardware remains a global challenge and it impacts also researchers in high-income Read moreNovember 3, 2025
- The Academy of Finland granted Johanna Ivaska €2,400,000 in funding for an Academy Professor position The Academy of Finland granted our Group Leader, Professor Johanna Ivaska €2,400,000 in funding for Read moreOctober 30, 2025
- Guillaume Jacquemet and Cecilia Sahlgren receive funding for the Research Council of Finland Centre of Excellence in Immune-Endothelial Interactions (IMMENs) Associate Professor Guillaume Jacquemet, our Group Leader, and Professor Cecilia Sahlgren, our affiliated Group Leader, Read moreOctober 30, 2025
- Registration to AI2Med imaging event is now open! Registration for AI2Med Turku 2025 is open! The event is organized by the Turku PET Read moreOctober 21, 2025
- Jonna Alanko receives the Young Investigator Award from the Scandinavian Society for Immunology Jonna Alanko has received the Young Investigator Award of the Scandinavian Society for Immunology. The Read moreOctober 17, 2025
- Professor Riitta Lahesmaa awarded Johnny Ludvigsson Prize for Outstanding Nordic Researcher Professor Riitta Lahesmaa was awarded Johnny Ludvigsson Prize for Outstanding Nordic Researcher. The prize is Read moreOctober 16, 2025