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.fi

    Background

    • 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.com

    Areas 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

    Doctoral Candidate

    Eriksson Lab navid.delshad [at] abo.fi
    "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."

    Emilia Holm

    Doctoral Candidate

    Eriksson Lab +358449708251 emilia.holm [at] abo.fi

    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.fi

    Background

    • 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

    Sepideh Parvanian

    Doctoral Candidate

    Eriksson Lab sepideh.parvanian [at] bioscience.fi; sepideh.parvanian [at] abo.fi

    Background

    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

    Leila Rato

    Doctoral Candidate

    Eriksson Lab +358 469511582 leila.coelhorato [at] abo.fi

    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

    Michael Silva

    Doctoral Candidate

    Eriksson Lab +358 469511586 michael.santossilva [at] abo.fi

    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

    Giulia Sultana

    Doctoral Candidate

    Eriksson Lab +358466565957 giulia.sultana [at] abo.fi

    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

    Arun Venu

    Doctoral Candidate

    Eriksson Lab +358 41 49 39 527 apoonthu [at] abo.fi

    Background

    Master of Science in Biomedical Imaging Bachelor’s degree in biotechnology

    Research 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.fi

    Background

    • 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

    Tatiana Tarkhova

    Master Student

    Eriksson Lab tatiana.t.tarkhova [at] utu.fi

    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