GROUP LEADER

Nina Mars combines her background in clinical medicine, statistics, and genomics to advance the integration of genomics into clinical care. After earning her MD and PhD and statistics degrees from the University of Helsinki and training at FIMM and the Broad Institute, she now holds an Academy Research Fellowship. Her group focuses on using large biobank data to improve disease risk prediction and understand how germline genetics influences disease characteristics and outcomes, especially in cancer and immune-mediated diseases.

SENIOR SCIENTIST, RHEUMATOLOGIST

Anne Kerola received her PhD from the University of Helsinki, with post-doctoral training at REMEDY Center, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Norway. She has a title of docent (experimental internal medicine) from the University of Helsinki. Her research has focused on cardiovascular disease risk and other comorbidities associated with rheumatic diseases. She is also a clinical rheumatologist working part-time in Päijät-Häme Central Hospital, Finland. Dr. Kerola joined the research group in 2024, with a focus on inflammatory rheumatic disease epidemiology and genetic

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Max Tamlander is a doctoral researcher in the Doctoral Programme in Population Health, co-advised by Nina Mars, Elisabeth Widén, and Samuli Ripatti. His work focuses on the analysis and application of genomic data to better understand inherited susceptibility to common diseases, such as cardiometabolic diseases and common cancers. Max completed his MD degree at the University of Helsinki.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Eero Aaltonen is an MD-PhD student who joined FIMM in summer 2022. His work is focused on exploring the utility of polygenic scores for complex disease risk estimation in both clinical setting and epidemiological research. His work involves consideration of ethical views, predictive capability, and potential cost-effectiveness of polygenic prediction in healthcare.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Nelli Saijets is a doctoral student focused on hereditary breast cancer, polygenic risk scores and genetic counselling. Her work combines clinical and genetic data to discover qualities of PRS and its use in clinical setting. Nelli received her licentiate degree in Medicine from the University of Oulu in 2018. In addition to Nina Mars, Nelli’s supervisors are Eveliina Salminen and Elisabeth Widén.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

­Sannimari Suhonen (MSc) is a doctoral researcher who joined the group as part of the FIMM-EMBL PhD rotation program in March 2024. Her current project focuses on investigating protective polygenic effects in susceptibility gene variant carriers. Sannimari completed her BSc in Molecular Biosciences and her MSc in Life Science Informatics (Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine) at the University of Helsinki.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Maiju Roine is a medical student in the PhD Study Track of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Helsinki. Her current work focuses on germline influences on inflammatory trajectories, particularly in rheumatic diseases.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Kirika Karppinen is a DDS/PhD student in the PhD Study Track of the Faculty of Medicine of University of Helsinki. She joined FIMM in summer 2023 as a rotation student in the group. She is utilizing FinnGen and registry data to explore the connections between oral and general health, combining the fields of dentistry and genomics. She is supervised by Nina Mars and Satu Strausz.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Eemeli Tusa is a medical student at the University of Helsinki. His current research focuses on glaucoma and its subtypes, with an interest in understanding the onset and characteristics of the disease in relation to polygenic risk scores.

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Karita Salo is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on deciphering the health
impact of antipsychotic medication usage patterns. She received her doctoral degree from Aalto University, where she studied effective connectivity using transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalogram. She has also
worked as a medical physics resident at HUS and as a data scientist and
biostatistician at Helsinki Biobank and the private sector for several years.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Iiris Pitko is doctoral researcher with an MSc in Bioinformatics from Aalto University, and a background in Molecular Biosciences. Her PhD work uses the comprehensive iCAN cancer profiling data to study the impact of germline genetic variation on characteristics and prognosis of common cancers.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Khujith Rajueni is a doctoral researcher co-supervised by Nina Mars and Samuli Ripatti. His current project focuses on adverse events associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and polygenic risk scores. Khujith completed his Doctor of Pharmacy at Bharati Vidyapeeth University and a Master’s in Epidemiology and Biomedical Data Science at the University of Oulu. His interest lies in leveraging genomics and data-driven approaches to optimize precision medicine to improve patient outcomes.

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER, RHEUMATOLOGIST

Hanna-Kaisa Aaramaa is a rheumatologist in Tampere University Hospital and a PhD student in the Faculty of Medicine of University of Tampere, from where she also received her licentiate (2014) and rheumatologist degrees (2021).  Her doctoral study is utilizing FinnGen and genetic data to investigate the risk of cardiometabolic comorbidities in rheumatic diseases. Her supervisors are Nina Mars and Pia Isomäki from University of Tampere.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Noora Metsäranta joined the group in May 2024 as a research assistant. She is working with iCAN data to study the impact of germline genetic variation on characteristics and prognosis of common cancers. She completed her bachelor’s degree in bioinformation technology at Aalto university in 2021. Currently, she is studying for a master’s degree in biomedical engineering at Aalto university.

VISITING RESEARCHER

Zade Akras is an MD student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. He completed his undergraduate degree in Mathematics.