THE TEAM

CEO .: Pia Kivijärvi

Pia Kivijärvi’s background is in international knowledge marketing and business development. She has obtained her M.Sc. degree in the University of Helsinki, Viikki, marketing and food economics as her major. She has done Ph.D. studies in Tampere University of Technology dealing with business strategies and branding. Pia Kivijärvi has gained a total of 15 years of work experience in different positions in both private and public organizations. Before Histola Research Ltd Kivijärvi worked as a Director of Business Relations in Finn-Medi Research Ltd.

Expertise areas include: Brand Management, Technology- and Knowledge Marketing, Strategic Alliances

CSO .: Markus Soimasuo, Ph.D, Adj. Professor

Markus Soimasuo has 16 years of experience in environmental toxicology and ecotoxicology, both in research and teaching. Especially he has been involved in aquatic ecotoxicology, including the molecular and biochemical ecotoxicity on fish, mussels and other aquatic biota. Moreover he is experienced in cell culturing methods and the use of different cells in toxicity studies and testing. He has earned a title “EUROTOX registered toxicologist” granted by EUROTOX Secretary General and The Finnish Toxicology Society in 2003. Markus Soimasuo has also specialized in micro scale toxicity testing, their validation and development and he has been involved in developing the biosensors for using in environmental diagnostics. His latest interests are REACH related testing and nanosafety issues.

Project Manager .: Katja Veneskoski

Katja Veneskoski is a graduate of PIRAMK University of Applied Sciences in the field of medical laboratory technology. In the University of Jyväskylä, Katja Veneskoski studied biotechnology as her major and her master’s thesis handled avidin-like recombinant protein production. She has ten years of experience in histopathology during her career in Tampere University Hospital and Histola Research Ltd.

Experties/interests: GLP Study Director, histopathology, recombinant protein production

Project Manager .: Sari Siitonen

Sari Siitonen has obtained her M.Sc degree in Institute of Medical Technology (IMT), University of Tampere biochemistry as her major. She focused her studies also in the field of biomaterials and tissue-engineering. Her master´s thesis handled antimicrobial coating and biomaterials. She has worked in Histola Resarch Ltd since 2005 and her area of responsibility is project management.

Microbiologist .: Juha V. Mentu

Juha Mentu has graduated in Helsinki University, Dep. of Microbiology, where he has also studied limnology, biotechnology and wood chemistry. Juha has specialized in environmental and industrial microbiology, and has worked over 25 years for pulp and paper enterprises. Applications of novel, rapid and automatized microbiological methods for paper industry have been his main task throughout his career. His second profession is teaching of various branches of microbiology, and he annually gives lessons and leads training courses for universities, universities of applied sciences, institutions and commercial training companies. He is a member of Mikrobiologikilta r.y., Soc. of Industrial Microbiology and BIOTOUCH Concept.

Scientist .: Ya-Hua Zhuang, Ph.D

Ya-Hua Zhuang has obtained Doctor of Medcine degree in the Tampere University Medical School. He has more than 16 years of experience in in vitro and in vivo research in the fields of cell biology, endocrinology and cancer research. During many year's work as a researcher in the Tampere University, he was involved in many biomedical projects such as steroid signal transductuion. He studied and developed novel cell and tissue culture models for the study of proliferation and differentiation of normal/cancer tissues and cells, and for the drug discovery.

Expertise areas include: cell and tissue culturing techniques, cell biology, endocrinology, cancer research

Controller .: Taina Peiponen

Taina Peiponen has obtained her M.Sc degree in the University of Tampere accounting and finance as her major and corporate law, tax law and statistics as her minor. She is responsible for bookkeeping, cash management, billing, purchase invoice handling, budgeting and reporting.

Biomedical Laboratory Scientist.: Maaret Vaani

Maaret Vaani studied biomedical laboratory technology in PIRAMK University
of Applied Sciences. She has gained work experience in cell culturing,
histology and cytology, hard tissue histology and immunohistochemistry. She is in charge of chemicals, workplace safety and waste. She has worked in Histola Research Ltd since 2007.

Biomedical Laboratory Scientist .: Maria Vuorinen

Maria Vuorinen studied biomedical laboratory technology in PIRAMK University of Applied Sciences. She focused her studies in the field of molecular biology and immunohistochemistry. She has gained work experience in routine histology and cytology, immunohistochemistry, hard tissue histology and cell culturing. In Histola Research Ltd her areas of responsibility are controlling the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) -system and archiving.

Cell Biologist.: Teemu Honkanen

Teemu Honkanen background is in academic research in the field of cell biology in university of Jyväskylä. At present he is preparing his Ph.D. thesis dealing with IgA nephropathy in University of Tampere pathology departent. Expertise: Cell and molecular biology, Immunology, Immunohistochemistry, Image Analyce technics using manual and automated image softwares.

Pathologist.: Elise Saario-Paunio

DVM (Helsinki 1986), Vocational examination on leadership (Helsinki, 2005), Assessor course on the accreditation of laboratories and inspection bodies arranged by FINAS- Finnish Accrediatation Service (Helsinki 2006), MLAS, Master of Laboratory Animal Science (Copenhagen 2007)

Project Coordinator .: Paula Vesa

Paula Vesa, MSc(Tech), information specialist

Expertise: Information search and surveys to find and apply non-animal methods by utilizing organisations, networks and databases in the EU (JRC/ECVAM, ecopa, EU framework programmes).