Areas of expertise
Biography
Senior Lecturer in Cell Biology and Metabolism
Docent in Cell Biology 2012
Teaching
- Cell biology and histology for students in Medicine (first year) and Biomedicine (Bachelor’s Degree Programme).
- Textbooks we use: Alberts et al. Essential Cell Biology, Alberts et al. Molecular BIology of the Cell, Young et al. Wheater's Functional Histology.
- Laboratory course "Cell and Molecular Biology (laboratory work)" for students in Biomedicine
- Laboratory course "Methods in Cell Biology" and for medical students selected for Molecular Medicine Research Track (2-yr programme).
- Mentoring students in biomedicine (3-yr Bachelor’s Degree Programme).
- Participating actively in the planning of the curriculum (in particular, first year BSc studies).
Research
Bone and energy metabolism
Our reserach group is interested in the crosstalk between bone cells and energy metabolism.
Bone is not only a structural organ but interacts with other cell types in the bone marrow microenvironment and iwith extra-skeletal cells via secreted hormone-like factors. Our current research focuses on role of these bone-derived hormones, or osteokines, in local and whole body energy metabolism, and the interactions between bone-forming osteoblasts and bone marrow adipocytes in the bone microenvironment. We are also interested in the effects of type 2 diabetes on bone cells and bone metabolism. Our long term goal is to understand how changes in energy metabolism affect bone cells, bone-derived hormones, bone turnover and bone microenvironment. We use cell culture and cell-based methods, in vivo models and patient samples obtained from clinical collaborators.
Group members: Milja Arponen (doctoral researcher), Niki Jalava (doctoral researcher), Nicko Widjaja (doctoral researcher), Ronja Ojala (doctoral researcher, Turku PET Centre), Iida Karhu (undergraduate student)
Funding: Academy of Finland, Laboratoriolääketieteen edistämissäätiö, Turku University Foundation, Diabetes Wellness Finland