FCI K. Albin Johansson Research Professor
University of Turku
Professor Ivaska is an academic researcher at the University of Turku, Finland. Her research focuses on finding novel approaches to treat cancer by gaining a fuller appreciation of the intricacies of cell adhesion in regulating cell fate, tissue homeostasis and crosstalk with the stroma. Johanna obtained her PhD in 2000 at the University of Turku before completing her EMBO and Research Council of Finland (formerly Academy of Finland) funded postdoctoral training at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute in 2003.

Meet the team

Megan Chastney
Postdoctoral researcher
Michal Dibus
Postdoctoral researcher
Gautier Follain
Postdoctoral researcher
Michalis Gounis
Postdoctoral researcher
Hellyeh Hamidi
Research coordinator
Jouni Härkönen
Bioinformatician
Niklas Jäntti
PhD researcher
Omkar Joshi
PhD researcher
Jasmin Kaivola
PhD researcher
Petra Laasola
Biomedical Laboratory Scientist
Veli-Matti Leppänen
Research Fellow
Huayi Li
Postdoctoral researcher
Mathilde Mathieu
Postdoctoral researcher
Paulina Moreno-Layseca
Postdoctoral researcher
Nicolas Pasquier
PhD researcher
Meri Pelkonen
Joint PhD student
Jenni Siivonen
Biomedical Laboratory Scientist
Monika Vaitkevičiūtė
PhD researcher

Postdoctoral alumni

Hussein Al Akhrass
July 2021; next step: R & D Manager, Boehringer and Ingelheim, Vienna, Austria
Antti Arjonen
until 2015; next step: Senior researcher at Misvik Biology Ltd, Turku, Finland
James Conway
August 2024; next step: Research Council of Finland Fellow, Principal Investigator, Tumour microenvironment and metastasis lab, University of Helsinki, FI
Maria Georgiadou
August 2018; next step: Senior Researcher at Orion Pharma, Finland
Camilo Guzmán
October 2018; next step: Facility manager (Nanophotonics) at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Portugal
Jaroslav Icha
October 2019; next step: Application Specialist, Promega, Prague, Czechia
Guillaume Jacquemet
August 2019; next step: Research Council of Finland Fellow, Principal Investigator, Cell Migration Lab, Åbo Akademi University, Finland!
Anja Mai
until 2016; next step: Researcher at BerGenBio, Bergen, Norway
Ghaffar Muharram
until 2013; next step: Scientist at University of Lille, Lille, France
Elisa Närvä
April 2021; next step: Principal Investigator, Pluripotency & Cancer Laboratory, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Finland!
Ilkka Paatero
August 2019; next step: Head of Zebrafish Facility, Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku
Emilia Peuhu
August 2019; next step: Principal Investigator, Peuhu lab, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Finland!
Mika Pietilä
until 2017; next step: Medical Advisor, Astra Zeneca, Espoo, Finland
Jeroen Pouwels
until 2013; next step: group leader at Turku Bioscience Centre, Turku, Finland
Stefan Veltel
next step: lecturer at University of Applied Sciences, Bremen, Germany

Phd alumni

Jonna Alanko
(thesis defended 2016) - next step : postdoc in the Michael Sixt lab, IST, Austria
Antti Arjonen
(thesis defended 2013)
Nicola De Franceschi
(thesis defended 2016) - next step: postdoc in Institute Curie, FR
Gunilla Högnäs
(thesis defended 2013) - next step : postdoc University of Tampere, FI
Aleksi Isomursu
(thesis defended 2024) - next steps : postdoc, Sandrine Etienne-Manneville's lab, Institut Pasteur, Paris, FR
Riina Kaukonen
(thesis defended 2016) - next step : postdoc in Turku Bioscience Centre
Martina Lerche
(thesis defended 2021) - next step : postdoc, Clare Waterman's lab, NIH, US
Johanna Lilja
(thesis defended 2020) - next steps : postdoc, Johanna Joyce's lab, University of Lausanne, CH
Anja Mai
(thesis defended 2011)
Elina Mattila
(thesis defended 2009) - now Senior Scientist at Orion Pharma, Finland
Mitro Miihkinen
(thesis defended 2021) - next step : studying statistics at University of Turku, FI.
Jonna Nevo
(thesis defended 2011) - next step : MD, Oncologist
Teijo Pellinen
(thesis defended 2009) - now Senior Researcher at Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Helsinki, Finland
Juha Rantala
(thesis defended 2011) - next step : CEO at Misvik Biology and Principal Investigator at the University of Sheffield, UK
Pranshu Sahgal
(thesis defended 2018) - next step : postdoc in the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, US
Siiri Salomaa
(thesis defended 2020) - next step : postdoc, Kevin Chalut's lab, University of Cambridge, UK
Aki Stubb
(thesis defended 2019) - next steps : postdoc, Ewa Paluch's lab, University of Cambridge, UK
Maria Taskinen
(thesis defended 2022) - next step: Paul Workman's lab, ICR, London, UK
Saara Tuomi
(thesis defended 2010) - Next step : Postdoc at the Danish Cancer Society
Reetta Virtakoivu
(thesis defended 2015) - next step : postdoc in Institute of Biomedicine, FI
Karolina Vuoriluoto
(thesis defended 2010) - next step : Drug Safety Specialist, Orion Corporation

Masters alumni

Nuria Barber Perez
Max Grönloh
Niklas Jäntti
David Kühl
Maria Rafaeva
Paula Rasila
Rafael Saup
Sonja Vahlman
Taru Varila