Microbes contribute to human health, and a microbial shift to an unbalanced direction has shown to play a role in chronic diseases. Oral microbiota and oral infections may influence systemic inflammation. The objective is to find evidence on salivary microbiome contributing to the occurrence of cryptogenic ischemic stroke in patients younger than 50 years. Patients with stroke and their matched controls are investigated in a case-control study. Oral infections and salivary microbiota will be investigated in order to find changes possibly contributing to stroke. This project will provide novel information on oral risk factors for cryptogenic stroke at younger ages.

Pain and pain-related conditions cause the highest burden of disease and are the leading cause of disability globally. Discovery of the glymphatic system provides new perspectives into the pathogenesis of chronic pain and opportunities for its treatment and prevention. The glymphatic system is active under natural deep sleep enabling the cerebrospinal fluid to flow through the brain and to clear the central nervous system of accumulated waste. This multidisciplinary preclinical study will be performed in rodents using state-of the art methods, such as a novel single-photon emission tomography tracking of cerebrospinal fluid flow. We will assess the hypothesis that pain-induced poor sleep leads to impaired glymphatic flow, poor clearance of proinflammatory cytokines, neuroinflammation, and consolidation of the chronic pain state. Ultimately, we will study if preclinically identified glymphatic enhancers could be used in rescuing glymphatic flow to alleviate chronic pain.

The gut microbiota has long-term effects on host health especially in early life. Infants receive maternal faecal microbes during vaginal birth, which is prevented by C-section. C-section is associated with increased risk of many chronic diseases, likely because of the disturbed gut microbiota. We recently showed the effectiveness of a faecal microbiota transplant from the infants own mother in restoring normal gut microbiota in C-section born infants. However, FMT contains a large diversity of unknown microbes, some of which may pose a risk of dangerous infection. A safe and widely applicable infant microbiota restoration method is urgently needed. In this project, we develop a selective microbiota transplant from mother to infant and test its efficacy and safety in a clinical trial. The work is conducted in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki.

PhloEM EcologiC focus on the mechanistic understanding of carbon and water transport through trees and how they are regulated. Phloem transport is central to plant ecology, and theories to explain it date from 1930. However, these theory need to be confronted to experimental data, a challenging task due to the sensitivity of the phloem tissue. Our objectives are to understand the processes driving phloem transport in trees and test their ecological consequences in terms of species distribution, coexistence and survival to drought. We will use experimental, both in controlled and field conditions, and statistical approaches to address these questions. The research will be conducted mostly at the University of Helsinki and at a research station in Hyytiälä, with additional collaboration in Australia, Europe and (sub)tropical regions. This project outcome will help improve forest management practices in Finland and abroad, particularly in regions exposed to extreme climatic events

Brain damage can result in multiple types of diseases including depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, and stroke. Novel treatment strategies based on animal models have largely failed due to the complexity of the human brain. Therefore, this study aims to develop robust 3D organoid models comprising human endothelial cells, immunocompetent microglia, and neuronal cells and implant them into animal models to create functional and viable mature human tissues to study disease and test potential drugs. In this study, I will assess the concerted effect of different cell types in shaping cortical development and pathological consequences of acute ischemic insults in vascularized organoids using techniques like single-cell sequencing, two-photon imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging. The representativeness of this model will ultimately help elucidate disease mechanisms by using patient-specific cell lines and provide a platform for personalized medicine.