皇家华人

Minna Kaikkonen-M盲盲tt盲 was born in 1980 in Kiuruvesi, Finland. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Cellular Biology and Physiology from Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, France, in 2002, followed by a Master鈥檚 degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Jyv盲skyl盲, Finland, in 2005. She completed her PhD in Molecular Medicine in 2008 under the supervision of Prof. Seppo Yl盲-Herttuala in Kuopio, with her doctoral research focused on 鈥淓ngineering Baculo- and Lentiviral Vectors for Enhanced and Targeted Gene Delivery.鈥�

Following her PhD, Dr. Kaikkonen-M盲盲tt盲 undertook postdoctoral studies with Prof. Christopher Glass at the University of California, San Diego. During this time, she shifted her research focus to transcriptional gene regulation and enhancer RNAs, supported by the prestigious Young Investigator Award from the Leducq Foundation.

In 2015, Dr. Kaikkonen-M盲盲tt盲 established her own laboratory at the University of Eastern Finland, where she now leads cutting-edge research on the gene and cellular mechanisms underlying atherosclerosis, utilizing advanced next-generation sequencing technologies. Currently, she serves as a Professor of Cardiovascular Genomics, directing a lab of 20 members. In addition, she is the Director of the A.I. Virtanen Research Institute and the Single Cell Genomics Core.

Dr. Kaikkonen-M盲盲tt盲 has published 110 peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals, with approximately 8,000 citations and an H-index of 41. Her research has attracted over 鈧�8.5 million in funding, including prestigious grants from the European Research Council (Starting and Consolidator Grants), the Academy of Finland, the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation.

She is the President of the Finnish Society of Atherosclerosis and an active member of several key professional organizations, including the European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Atherosclerosis and Vascular Biology, the Scandinavian Society of Atherosclerosis, and the Membership Engagement Committee of the American Society of Human Genetics.

Her research is focused on understanding the genetic basis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and cardiometabolic diseases. Her team employs a combination of cellular and genetic model systems, single-cell transcriptomics and epigenetics, high-throughput functional genomics techniques, and bioinformatics to unravel the complex regulatory mechanisms driving these diseases.