Currently, my research focuses on the study of knee osteoarthritis. The idea of my work is to utilize musculoskeletal and finite element models to investigate forces acting on the knee joint, as well as the mechanical responses of cartilage. My goal is to further develop the existing modeling framework by incorporating increasingly detailed patient-specific parameters and to evaluate the effects of various conservative rehabilitation interventions.
I am a doctoral researcher in the Transporters in Diseases group, led by Associate Professor Elena Puris. My research focuses on uncovering the roles of transporter proteins in Alzheimer’s disease, with a particular emphasis on mass spectrometry–based approaches.
My research focuses on cultural and national identities in fiction and travel writing, literature and borders, and human-animal relationships. My work has examined topics such as the relationship between Britain and Europe, postcolonialism and transculturation, and processes of cultural mixing i.e. hybridization. In recent years I have published widely on border studies in the humanities.
Since 2007, I am Professor of English at the School of Humanities at the University of Eastern Finland, and I teach literary and cultural studies. I served as Vice-Dean of the Philosophical Faculty 2018-2021. I have studied in Finland and the UK. After completing my MA and FL (Licentiate) degrees at the University of Joensuu (as UEF was known until 2010) in the early 1990s, I was awarded a British Council Fellowship for further study. In 1994-95, I studied Cultural Studies at the Department of Cultural Studies at the University of East London, UK, where I was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Cultural Studies (1995). I received my PhD in English from the University of Joensuu in 1996, and a second doctoral degree in sociology in 2005. In 2013, I was Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds, UK. have published widely in my research areas and directed several research projects. I am an invited member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
My research involves developing a new analytical method for environmental nitrate isotope analysis using Electrospray Ionization Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry, and to quantify isotope fractionation during microbial nitrification and denitrification to distinguish nitrogen losses from different pathways in agricultural soils. My research is in partnership with the University of Vienna in Austria.
Our research builds on our firm expertise in the steroid signaling and transcriptional regulation and our pioneering work on the SUMOylation of transcription factors and chromatin. Our current major goals are to:
– Identify the chromatin-bound proteins associated with the androgen receptor (AR) and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and reveal the role of SUMOylation in these associations.
– Discover novel means to target the AR and GR in castration resistant prostate cancer.
– Reveal the chromatin targets and mechanisms by which SUMOylation regulates gene networks and chromatin structure in cellular plasticity.
To address these aims, we will use cutting-edge genome- and proteome-wide tools, including GRO-seq, ChIP-seq, ChIP-SICAP and Turbo-ID proximity labeling, with human prostate cancer cell lines, mesenchymal stem cells and reprogrammable somatic cells as our main model systems.
We anticipate that our systemic studies and studies will provide us with novel leads for targeting steroid receptors. We also believe that our innovative and systematic approaches with multitalented research collaboration will provide us with novel SUMOylation targets and significant discoveries of the mechanisms by which SUMOylation regulates cellular plasticity and homeostasis. The results are likely to have translational potential in regenerative medicine and drug discovery for diseases, such as cancer.
Research interests:
-operator theory
-analytic function spaces
-komplex differential equations
I am a Finnish regional scientist with an academic background in human geography and sociology. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Karelian Institute of the University of Eastern Finland, contributing to various EU and national-level projects. Throughout my research career, I have explored topics such as the sustainability transitions of rural areas, inter-regional relations in Europe and stakeholder collaboration in regional place marketing projects.
I work as a Project Manager in a project called “Circular economy skill development for working life” (CE4ALL) and as a Postdoctoral Researcher in ToFuCa project. I earned my Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration) degree in the autumn of 2025. Furthermore, I teach part-time as an hourly teacher in work and organizational psychology. I am a member of the Center for Sustainable Circular Economy (CECE) and the Sustainable Innovation Research Team (SUN LAB). My research focuses on topics such as: sustainability themes in working life, resilience, self-management, self-determination theory, organizations, leadership/management themes, metacognitive skills, fear of change, etc.
In my research as a human geographer I explore the interface between society and nature. I investigate the ways local communities in both urban and rural surroundings come to terms with the transforming spaces and environments, which includes research into the politics of conservation of biodiversity. Often focussing on the local scale as a lens through which to examine broader societal and political transformations, there is a crucial multi-scalar dimension in my research.
My research focuses on collaborative governance of natural resources – addressing challenges that no single actor or sector can solve on their own. Some more specific topics I am currently focusing on include circular economy and multilevel governance of critical raw materials, public mediation and conflict resolution, mining and battery industry governance, water stewardship, community benefit agreements, biodiversity offsetting, and social acceptance of green transition.
