Hello new staff #18
We are happy to introduce new colleagues at the Department of Laboratory Medicine. Welcome everyone!
Yizhou Hu
Principal Researcher at Division of Clinical ChemistryYizhou Hu earned his Ph.D. in Neuro-Oncology and Molecular Biochemistry from Helsinki Univ., supervised by Prof. Jorma Keski-Oja with Prof. Kari Alitalo as scientific advisor. He completed his postdoc in Prof. Patrik Ernfors’ lab at Karolinska, studying nervous system cancers using single-cell transcriptomics and machine learning. He is a Researcher and Docent in System Biology at Helsinki University. At LabMed, he is integrating single-cell/spatial MultiOmics and machine learning to decode developmental plasticity in nervous system cancers and immune priming of non-immune cells in psoriatic skin.
Sofja Sofia Poznakovs
PhD student at Division of Clinical Microbiology / The Systems Virology LabSofja has done her bachelor’s in Biomedical Laboratory Science at Karolinska Institutet and continued to study master’s in Infection Biology at Uppsala University, where as a part of her degree project she joined The Systems Virology Lab to study immunometabolic reprograming during latency reversal. At Labmed she will continue to work with HIV, but more focused on the neuroimmunometabolism.
Jia Qi Lee
PhD student at Division of Clinical Microbiology/Annika Karlsson’s groupJia first joined KI as a thesis student in 2023, followed by a position as a research assistant in Annika Karlsson’s group in 2024. He graduated from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, with a background in biological sciences. He is now continuing in Annika Karlsson’s group as a PhD student. His research will focus on T cell immunity in relation to health, infection, and disease, with the aim of contributing to improved population health and clinical strategies.
Teresa Stellaccio
PhD student at Division of Clinical Microbiology / The Systems Virology LabTeresa obtained her MSc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technologies in 2019 at University of Salerno (Italy). After honing her expertise as a pharmacist, she embarked on a new chapter in 2022, joining a pioneering biotech company in London (United Kingdom) as Research Associate. Here, she immerses herself in the dynamic world of understanding the mechanisms underlying gut diseases, leveraging advanced organoid platforms to unlock insights that hold the promise of transformative therapies. In 2024, she joined Karolinska Institutet (KI) as Research assistant within Takuya Sekine team, focusing on the tissue immunosurveillance by cytotoxic lymphocytes.
Therése Forssén
PhD student at Division of Pathology/Anders Mutvei’s groupTherése is from Stockholm, Sweden, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedicine and a Master’s degree in Molecular Medicine from Uppsala University. During her master’s thesis in Anders Mutvei’s group, she investigated the role of lysosomes in medulloblastoma recurrence and aggressiveness. As a PhD student in the same group, she will be studying how lysosomal alterations affect cancer metabolism, progression, and therapy resistance, with a focus on medulloblastoma.
Hatice Esenkaya
Postdoc at Division of Biomolecular and Cellular Medicine/ Samir EL Andaloussi groupHatice is from Turkey, where she studied Molecular Biology and Genetics. She moved to the UK for a Master’s in Cancer Cell and Molecular Biology, followed by a PhD at the University of Leicester, where she investigated G-quadruplex structures in Mcl-1 pre-mRNA and their role in alternative splicing regulation. After completing her doctorate, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Surrey in UK, focusing on RNA-binding proteins and their interactions with the untranslated regions of cytoplasmic mRNAs. Hatice applied advanced biochemical approaches such as TRIP and TREX to identify and characterise novel RBPs and explored how these interactions regulate mRNA stability and protein expression over time with collaboration CureVac. Since 2022 Hatice had also been a lecturer and established her own research lab in Turkey. She joined Prof. Samir El Andaloussi’s group at Karolinska Institutet in February 2025 where she will focus on RNA therapeutics delivery and the development of advanced therapies.
Georgia Koutentaki
Research Assistant at Division of Biomolecular and Cellular Medicine / Jens Magnusson Research GroupGeorgia is from Crete, Greece, and holds an MSc in Biological Applications & Technology, with a major in Biomolecular Sciences & Biotechnology, from the University of Ioannina. Her master’s thesis explored extracellular vesicles for potential therapeutic applications, igniting her interest in interdisciplinary research that advances human health. She has recently joined Jens Magnusson’s group as a Research Assistant, where she is eager to contribute to precise cell fate engineering using CRISPR technology and innovative computational approaches.
Jay Jenkins
Post doc at Division of Pathology / Dhifaf Sarhan GroupJay just moved abroad for the first time in his life, from the USA to Sweden and is excited to be working here as a postdoc! He just finished his Ph.D. in cancer immunology research at Mayo Clinic, and is passionate about both research and teaching. He's planning to study the process of adaptive NK cell development. He spends his free time exploring, exercising, and building/maintaining friendships.