Lab Members
Group Leader
John Eriksson Professor of Cell Biology, Faculty of Science, Åbo Akademi Univ.
Director General, Euro-Bioimaging ERIC
john.eriksson[at] bioscience.fi
john.eriksson[at] abo.fi
Contact Information
Turku Bioscience
P.O. Box 123, BioCity
(Street adr. Tykistökatu 6 B)
FIN-20521 Turku, Finland
+358-2-215-3313 (John Eriksson)
+358-400-513 701 (Departmental Office)
Technical Staff
Senior/Postdoctoral Researchers
Preethy Paul
Project Coordinator & Postdoctoral Researcher
Eriksson Lab
+358 41 36 40 948
ppreethy [at] abo.fi ; prepau [at] utu.fiBackground
- Screening & development of natural compounds and small molecules for anti-cancer activity
- Studying the molecular mechanism of apoptosis induced by the compounds
Research interests
- Drug development research related to anti-cancer therapeutics
- Developing natural compounds/extracts & small molecules for treatment of HPV associated cancers and warts
- Studying the mechanism of cell death induced by the compounds in HPV associated cell lines by various biochemical and biophysical methods
Senthilkumar Rajendran
Senior Research Fellow
Eriksson Lab
+358442362631
srajendr [at] abo.fi ; sekura [at] utu.fi ; biosen81 [at] gmail.comAreas of expertise
Drug discovery and development :- Synthesis of organic small molecules and inorganic metal complexes
- Natural products – Extraction and isolation of compounds
- Apoptosis cell signaling pathways
- Drug-DNA/protein interaction
- In Ovo chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model
- Nanocarriers
Background
- Project Coordinator at Åbo Akademi Unviersity, Finland– January 2014 - present
- Postdoctoral Researcher at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Switzerland – September 2009 - January 2011
- Senior Researcher Fellow at Bharathidasan University, India – April 2007 - August 2009
Doctoral Candidates
"Navid Delshad is a Pharm.D.. He has joined the John Eriksson lab in 2021 as a project researcher. Now he is a PhD candidate in Biosciences and a member of HPV Horizon team."
Background
I received my Master’s degree in Cell biology at Åbo Akademi University, Finland in 2018 while working under Professor Kid Törnqvist. During this period, I was mainly studying what role the transcription factors TRb1 and Runx2 have in follicular thyroid cancer. As I finished my Master’s degree, I hoped to learn new techniques that are used in cell biology and thus became a PhD student in Professor John Eriksson’s lab. Currently, I study the importance of vimentin in the maintenance of nuclear integrity in fibroblasts. In addition, I am also involved in studies involving vimentin phosphorylation and interactions between lamins and heat shock factor 1 during heat shock.Research interests
- Imaging
- Nuclear integrity and function
- Intermediate filament structure
- Mechanosensing
Mayank Modi
Doctoral Candidate
Eriksson Lab
+358-(0)-469527179
maymod [at] bioscience.fi; mmodi [at] abo.fiBackground
- PhD in Cell Biology (ongoing)
- MSc in Molecular systems biology (Dec 2019)
- B. Tech. in Biotechnology (May 2016)
Research interests
- Fibroblasts in ECM deposition and remodeling
- Vimentin mediated mechanotransduction in adipogenesis
- Directional cell migration
- Microscopy and bioimage analysis
Ponnuswamy Mohanasundaram
Doctoral Candidate
Eriksson Lab (Biocity 2nd floor)
+358 2 215 4079
pmohanas [at] abo.fi ; ponmoh [at] utu.fiResearch Interests
Vimentin knockout delayed wound healing process in mice. Vimentin involve in wound healing mechanism, by regulating cell proliferation, EMT signaling and collagen synthesis. Cell growth and proliferation are important process for wound healing and normal development. We found that vimentin regulate cell growth and proliferation through Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. My research work is to understand, how vimentin regulate cell growth and proliferation through Akt/mTOR signaling.Education
- PhD (2012– till date) Thesis title – Role of Vimentin in normal and disease conditions, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Cell Biology Unit, Åbo Akademi
- Masters (M.Sc) in Biomedical Science (2005 - 2010), Department of Biomedical Science, Bharathidasan University, India
- Thesis: Purification and characterization of alkaline serine protease from Bacillus pumilus TMS55
Sepideh Parvanian
Doctoral Candidate
Eriksson Lab
sepideh.parvanian [at] bioscience.fi; sepideh.parvanian [at] abo.fiBackground
I received my Master’s degree in Genetic Engineering from the National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Tehran, Iran) in 2013. I worked in the biopharmaceutical industry for six years in up-stream bioprocess and R&D, and also as an internal auditor and monoclonal antibody API supervisor. I came to Finland in March 2017 as a Research Assistant to work on vesicular compartments in bone-resorbing osteoclasts, as a member of the EU-funded EUROCLAST project (Marie Curie ESR) at the University of Turku. I joined Erikson's Lab in June 2018 as a PhD student. My research focuses on novel fundamental insights on the role of fibrotic-derived extracellular vesicles in myofibroblasts heterogeneity and mechanism of fibrosis.Research interests
• Extracellular Vesicles • Wound healing • Biopharmaceutical manufacturing
Background
I have received my BSc and MSc in Biochemistry from University of Aveiro, Portugal. I had the opportunity to join the Eriksson laboratory as part of the Erasmus Programme for my master`s thesis, in which I focused on studying vimentin and cell size signalling. I joined the Proteomics core facility for my summer job in 2017 and then I decided to enrol as a PhD candidate. I focus on understanding the role of vimentin in cell growth signalling by looking at signalling partners and post-translation modifications using mass spectrometry.Research interests
- Mass spectrometry techniques and data analysis
- Cell metabolism and signalling
- Post-translational modifications
Background
I have done my Biochemistry degree in University of Aveiro, Portugal. During that time, I adventured myself in University of Southern Denmark, where I worked in pseudoexon activation in disease. After this experience, I decided to look for another place for me to do my master thesis. I was kindly accepted in John Eriksson’s lab, where I worked on c-FLIP regulation of cell population size. When the opportunity of starting PhD arrived, I embraced a new project working with human papillomavirus E6 and E7 oncoproteins.Research interests
- Human papillomavirus E6 and E7 oncoproteins
- Cell death
- Ubiquitination
- Proteomics
Background
- PhD in Cell Biology (ongoing)
- Trainee in Anatomical Pathology
- Trainee in Translational Medicine
- Master of Science in Biomedical Applications
- Bachelor’s degree in Biology
Research interests
- Cytoskeleton signaling
- ECM remodeling
- Cell migration in cancer and wound healing
- Imaging
Background
Master of Science in Biomedical Imaging Bachelor’s degree in biotechnologyResearch interests
- Development of Functional materials at biological interfaces for wound healing.
- Vimentin’s role in cell migration (fibroblast, macrophages and zebrafish)
- Bioimaging and image analysis
Peiru Yang
Doctoral Candidate
Eriksson Lab
+385 (0)418084762
peiru.yang [at] abo.fi; peiru.yang [at] bioscience.fiBackground
- Trainee in John Eriksson Laboratory (2018-2019, Åbo Akademi University)
- Trainee in Pharmaceutical Science Laboratory (2017-2018, Åbo Akademi University)
- Master's Degree in Medicine (2016-2019, Jiangsu University, China)
- Medical internship and rotation in surgery and radiology (2015-2016, The 81st Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, China)
- Bachelor's Degree in Medicine (2010-2015, Jiangsu University, China)
Research interests
- Cytoskeletal signaling
- Lipid droplet development and lipid metabolism
- Immunometabolism
- Wound Healing
Undergraduate Students
Background:
- Joined the HPV project to conduct her master’s thesis
- Technician at central animal laboratory of Turku (2019-2021)
- Master’s degree in Drug discovery and development (2020-2022)
- Bachelor’s degree in Biomedicine (2017-2020)
Research interest:
- Early phase drug development
- Oncology
- Computer aided drug design
- TurboID