As an Impact Manager in the Neuro-Innovation PhD Programme, my job is to make sure the programme reaches it impact goals. I support our PhD researchers and act as a connector between the project, PhD researchers, supervisors, partners and other stakeholders.
As an Innovation Specialist in the UEF Brain Research Unit 2.0 project, my task is developing and piloting a new model for patient and public involvement (PPI) for UEF’s Brain Research Unit.
Previous projects:
Researcher, HIWE-project
As a researcher in the High-skilled internationals: bottom-up insights into policy innovation for work and entrepreneurship in Finland (HIWE) research project, I do research on how highly skilled internationals experience working and living in Finland.
My research
I am part of the Innovation Management (INNO) research group and NOVA Neuro-Impact and Innovation research team.
I am currently doing research on public sector co-creation, as well as highly skilled internationals’ wellbeing.
My research focuses on behavioral-based treatments and methods in primary dental care. The broader aim of the study is to identify new solutions for treatment pathways and effective approaches for managing dental anxiety in clinical practice. Additionally, I consider it essential to teach behavioral approaches to dental , as described in research, along with dentist-patient interaction and collaboration with other professionals in the field of oral health. In my teaching, I prefer to use a variety of various metohds, including peer group learning.
Research topics are the hollowing out of Finnish welfare state, migration and rural areas.
In translational dentistry, the goal is to perform multi-disciplinary research to enhance the translation of scientific knowledge to clinical dental practice and to identify research requirements from the clinical practice to be brought to the laboratory. The aim is to encourage and promote collaboration between laboratory and clinical researchers. The objective is to clarify how oral inflammations and dysbiosis contribute to the risk of general chronic health problems. On the other hand, the aim is to spread the word among medical practitioners and the general audience on the systemic risks associated with oral infections.
Polina Kuzhir specializes in terahertz (THz) and biophotonics, with a focus on the material aspects of low-dimensional and nanocarbon-based materials. Her research centers on optical and quantum biosensing using color centers in diamonds, super-resolution fluorescent bioimaging, and the electromagnetics of two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, aiming to develop advanced THz devices and sensors.
She leads several European projects, including the QuantERA project “Color centers in diamond nanoneedles for intra- and EXTRA-cellular quantum SENSing (EXTRASENS),” which develops quantum biosensors for biomedical applications, and Horizon Europe project “Fluorescent nano-agents for super-resolution bioimaging and sensing (FLORIN),” and contributes to initiatives like the Horizon 2020 project “Micromechanical Bolometer Arrays for THz Hyperspectral Imaging (H-Cube),” which focuses on cutting-edge THz imaging technologies.
Experience (PhD and postdoc) in the field of particle physics.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3689-0837
Prasanthi Medarametla is an Academy Research Fellow at the School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and a Master’s degree in Pharmacoinformatics from NIPER, India. She then worked as a Project Associate and TATA–CSIR–OSDD Fellow at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad.
Prasanthi was a Marie Skłodowska‑Curie Early Stage Researcher in the EU‑MSCA ITN project INTEGRATE (Interdisciplinary Training Network for Validation of Gram‑Negative Antibacterial Targets). She completed her PhD at the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, in 2020, where she focused on computational screening of novel antibacterials within the INTEGRATE project.
In 2022, she joined the University of Cambridge as a Postdoctoral Researcher with support from the Postdoc Pooli (Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation), gaining expertise in experimental microbiology and structural biology techniques, including cryo‑EM and X‑ray crystallography. She later returned to UEF and worked as a Senior Researcher in the Biopharmacy Department before receiving an Academy Research Fellow position in 2025.
Currently, she leads the AVID (Anti‑Virulence Drug Discovery) research group at UEF and serves as the leader of the NORDFORSK NORD‑AViD consortium.
If you’re interested in Master’s projects or planning to pursue a PhD related to antibacterial protein targets and the mechanisms underlying bacterial virulence, feel free to reach out—I’d be happy to discuss potential opportunities.
