Janne Koivisto
About me
Post doctoral research fellow funded by the Tampere Institute for Advanced Studies. Member of Prof. Minna Kellomäki's Laboratory of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, part of Academy of Finland's Center of Excellence in Body-on-Chip research.
Hydrogel expert focusing on development of characterization methods for hydrogels and use of hydrogels in 3D cell culture application, such as disease modeling as well as clinical tissue engineering. Aiming for deeper understanding of hydrogel mechanics and cellular mechanotransduction (how cells sense their environment and how that affects cell behavior). I enjoy multidisciplinary research and working at the interface between materials engineering and biomedical applications. I've always been facinated by biology.
I'm open for collaboration suggestions within the field of biomaterials.
Responsibilities
- Scientific research (running my own project)
- Applying for research funding
- Student supervision
- Teaching (assisting role)
Fields of expertise
- Hydrogels
- Compression testing
- Rheology (macro- and microrheology)
- Setting up 3D cell culture systems
- Biocompatibility/cytocompatibility testing & cell culture
- Stem cell differentiation
Top achievements
Awards:
- 1 500€ stipend for doctoral thesis approved with distinction, from Industrial Research Fund at Tampere University of Technology.
- Honorary membership of the Materials Science and Engineering Students' Guild (Materiaali-insinöörikilta, MIK) of for special dedicated work towards the benefit of the materials science students and the guild, awarded by Materials Science and Engineering Students' Guild at the 30th Anniversary Gala 2023.
- Badge of Merit for continuous work towards the benefit of the materials science students and the guild, awarded by Materials Science and Engineering Students' Guild at the 25th Anniversary Gala 2018.
Funding:
- Travel grant for visit to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Erik & Edith Fernström Foundation (Sweden) (2022)
- Travel grant for conference participation, Karolinska Institutet internal travel grant (2022)
- Post Doctoral Mobility Grant (Visit to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Osk. Huttunen Foundation (Finland) (2020)
- Grant for Doctoral Studies, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Pirkanmaa Regional Fund (2015)
Student supervision:
PhD thesis supervision (Tampere University):
- Anastasiia Yiannacou (née Astanina) (on-going)
PhD Follow-up Group Member (Tampere University):
- Anastasiia Astanina (2022, from 2023 onwards thesis co-supervisor)
M.Sc. thesis supervision (Tampere University):
- Kati Rinnekari (Biotechnology Master’s Program, on-going)
M.Sc. thesis supervision (Karolinska Institutet) (In English):
- Nicole Accord (Diagnostic Cytology Master’s Program, June 2021): “Cell density and scaffolding in a 3D hydrogel-based in vitro model of bone”
M.Sc. thesis supervision (Tampere University of Technology) (In English):
- Christine Gering (Materials Science Master’s Program, May 2016): “Functionalization of the Polysaccharide Hydrogel Gellan Gum for Tissue Engineering Applications”
- Jette-Britt Naams (Biotechnology Master’s Program, May 2016): “A Rapid Cell Culture Protocol for Screening Material Cytocompatibility”
- Laura Salonen (Materials Science Master’s Program, August 2014): “Rheological and Mechanical Properties of Hydrogels”
B.Sc thesis supervision (Tampere University of Technology) (In Finnish):
- Jenna Suoranta (October 2019): “Electrophysiological Measurement of Electrically Active Cells in 3D Hydrogel”
- Ria Makkonen (January 2018): “Methods for Studying Hydrogel Microstructure, Porosity and Diffusion”
- Olli Etelätalo (October 2016): “Development of Heart Tissue -Like Scaffold Using Textile Technology”
- Jette-Britt Naams (July 2015): “Interactions of Laminin with Integrin in Neurons and Glial Cells” (joint supervision with Neuro Group, former University of Tampere)
- Hanna Kemppi (January 2015): “In Vitro Differentiation of Astrocytes from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells” (joint supervision with Neuro Group, former University of Tampere)
- Anni Junnila (May 2014): “The Effect of Substrate Mechanical Properties on Cell Growth”
Main positions of trust
- Auditor, Scandinavian Society of Biomaterials (11/06/2020 – (on-going))
- National Chapter Representative of Finland, Young Scientist Forum, European Society of Biomaterials (07/2019 – (on-going))
- Co-organizer of monthly webinar series for career development of young scientist in the Nordic and Baltic countries (10/2021 – (on-going))
- Founding member and two-time secretary of the board of Tampere University of Technology Materials Science Alumni Association (2017 & 2021)
- Chairman of BioMediTech Stem Cell Research Groups’ Free Time Activity Committee (09/2015 – 04/2019)
- Organizer of Stem Cell Research Workshop as part of high school students' Science Navigation (once per year 2015-2018)
- Organizer of Hydrogel Journal Club (09/2015 – 01/2018)
- Master of Ceremonies, Joint Meeting of Finnish Developmental Biology Society & Stem Cell Network, Tampere, Finland (10/2018)
- Editor of 25th Anniversay History Book of Materials Science and Engineering Guild (2018)
- Co-editor of Conference Abstract Book and Organizer of Student Sauna Evening, Joint Conference of the European Medical and Biological Engineering Conference and the Nordic-Baltic Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics (EMBEC’17&NBC’17), Tampere, Finland (05/2017 – 06/2017)
- Student activities in Materials Science and Engineering Guild
- Auditor (2014)
- Board Member, Responsible of Company Contacts (2011)
- Board Member, Responsible of Excursions (2010)
Funding
Research career
I studied materials science and engineering at Tampere University of Technology (currently part of Tampere University), majoring in biomaterials and tissue engineering. Masters thesis about differentiation of peripheral sensory neurons from human iPS cells in the Heart group of prof. Katriina Aalto-Setälä, University of Tampere (currently also part of Tampere University) and graduated 2013. After graduation worked first one year as research assistant and then as doctoral student in prof. Minna Kellomäki's Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering group in the Hydrogel project, which was part of Business Finland funded Human Spare Parts project. Throughout my doctoral studies I maintained a secondary affiliation in the Heart Group. Graduated as Doctor of Science (Tech.) in December 2019 with the thesis topic "Development and characterization of gellan gum based hydrogels for soft tissue engineering applications".
I did my first post doc, 1.5 years, in the Microelectronics Research Unit in University of Oulu (Finland) under the supervision of adjunct professor Gabriela Lorite. There I studied the interactions of carbon nanotubes with hydrogels, developing composite biomaterials.
Then did my second post doc (2 years) in Assist. Prof. Tuomas Näreoja's Bone Biology group, Division of Pathology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. My aim was to develop 3D bone disease model of inflammatory osteolysis. In practise this included development of composite 3D cell culture systems for bone cell co-cultures and conducting the necessary hydrogel characterization related to our model system.
During autumns 2021 and 2022 (total ~6 months) I was on a research visit from Sweden to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, to learn more about rheology and microrheology in the Applied Mechanics research group of Prof. Norbert Willenbacher. During the visits I also (thankfully) used the cell culture facilities of Prof. Martin Bastmeyer.
Since October 2022 I have held the current fellowship position and in January 2023 moved physically back to Tampere, Finland.