Juha
Mykkänen
Docent, Institute of Biomedicine
Senior Researcher, Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC)
Dosentti (Adjunct professor)
Links
Areas of expertise
cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors
metabolic disease
obesity
insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes
molecular genetics and genomics
metabolomics
transcriptomics
omics data analysis
statistics
type 1 diabetes
lysinuric protein intolerance
research project planning
Biography
EDUCATION AND DEGREES
2015 Adjunct professor (docent) of Molecular genetics, University of Turku (UTU)
2003 PhD, Medical genetics, UTU
1998 MSc, Genetics, UTU
CURRENT POSITION
Senior scientist, Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, Medical Faculty, UTU
PAST POSITIONS
2009 – 2015 Senior scientist, Finnish Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) study, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital (TUH)
2005 – 2008 Academy of Finland Post-doctoral Researcher, Turku Centre for Biotechnology, UTU
2003 – 2008 Post-doctoral researcher, Turku Centre for Biotechnology, UTU
1998 – 2003 Post-graduate (PhD) training, Department of Medical Genetics, UTU
2000 – 2002 Part-time teacher, Department of Biology, UTU
1998 – 1999 Assistant (8 months), Department of Medical Genetics, UTU
1995 – 1997 Part-time research assistant, Department of Medical Genetics, UTU
Teaching
Currently I supervise advanced studies or thesis in (bio)medicine.
Research
I have dedicated my whole career on human health related research. This started already during my pre-graduate stage when I was working in Adjunct professor Jaana Lähdetie's research group at the Department of Medical Genetics (UTU) studying sperm aneuploidy of testicular cancer patients treated with radiotherapy. After my M.Sc., I familiarized with molecular genetics of hereditary diseases in children. In my doctoral dissertation I studied the molecular genetics of hereditary lysinuric protein intolerance (LPI) disease under the guidance Prof. emeritus of Pertti Aula at the Medical Genetics department. During this time I familiarized with various methods of human genomics and the so-called Finnish disease heritage.
During my post-doc studies, I moved to the Turku Centre for Biotechnology (UTU) to study the development of Type 1 diabetes as part of the Finnish DIPP study. During this time, I studied of Type 1 diabetes, molecular immunology and various genomic biomedical research methods such genome-wide microarrays. During the post-doc period I was a post-doctoral researcher of the Academy of Finland, the subject of the Molecular Markers of Type 1 diabetes, where biospecimens collected from DIPP children were analysed using various microarray platforms (in-house cDNA, Affymetrix and Illumina) in order to find genes or gene networks that change early in the course of Type 1 diabetes development.
The third phase of my research career began in 2009 as a senior researcher at the DIPP Research Clinic (Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, TUH) led by Prof. emeritus Olli Simell. My research interest was to dissect and identify factors that modulate the risk for Type 1 diabetes related autoimmunity.
The fourth phase of my research career started in March 2015 as a senior researcher in The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS) coordinated by Academy Professor Olli Raitakari at the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (UTU), where risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are studied in great detail. The main aim of my current research is to dissect the complex interplay of human genome, transcriptome and metabolome with risk factors of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, both in cross-sectional and longitudinal settings, to increase our understanding of pathophysiology of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
During my post-doc studies, I moved to the Turku Centre for Biotechnology (UTU) to study the development of Type 1 diabetes as part of the Finnish DIPP study. During this time, I studied of Type 1 diabetes, molecular immunology and various genomic biomedical research methods such genome-wide microarrays. During the post-doc period I was a post-doctoral researcher of the Academy of Finland, the subject of the Molecular Markers of Type 1 diabetes, where biospecimens collected from DIPP children were analysed using various microarray platforms (in-house cDNA, Affymetrix and Illumina) in order to find genes or gene networks that change early in the course of Type 1 diabetes development.
The third phase of my research career began in 2009 as a senior researcher at the DIPP Research Clinic (Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, TUH) led by Prof. emeritus Olli Simell. My research interest was to dissect and identify factors that modulate the risk for Type 1 diabetes related autoimmunity.
The fourth phase of my research career started in March 2015 as a senior researcher in The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS) coordinated by Academy Professor Olli Raitakari at the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (UTU), where risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are studied in great detail. The main aim of my current research is to dissect the complex interplay of human genome, transcriptome and metabolome with risk factors of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, both in cross-sectional and longitudinal settings, to increase our understanding of pathophysiology of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
Publications
The effect of polychlorinated biphenyls on type 2 diabetes risk is mediated via DNA methylation (2025)
Environment International
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis in 3-92-year-old Finns. The 3-generational cardiovascular risk in young Finns study (2025)
Atherosclerosis
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Blood pressure in childhood, young- and mid-adulthood: association with carotid plaque severity (2025)
European Heart Journal
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Associations of Cumulative Adulthood, Childhood and Lifelong Insulin With Adulthood Retinal Microvasculature (2025)
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Polygenic prediction of body mass index and obesity through the life course and across ancestries (2025)
Nature Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Factors related to blood-based biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases and their intergenerational associations in the Young Finns Study: a cohort study (2025)
The Lancet healthy longevity
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Association of leisure time physical activity with gut microbiota composition in early adulthood (2025)
Scientific Reports
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Cardiometabolic determinants of aortic and carotid intima-media thickness in adolescence (2025)
Atherosclerosis
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Association of epicardial adipose tissue thickness and cardiac structure and function in early midlife: the cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study (2025)
European Journal of Preventive Cardiology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
Early intermittent hyperlipidaemia alters tissue macrophages to fuel atherosclerosis (2024)
Nature
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )