Olesia Ignatenko
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Mesmerized by all things biology, Olesia received her original training in genetics and cell biology, using drosophila as a model organism. She then completed her PhD studies in the Suomalainen lab at the University of Helsinki, Finland, supported by scholarships from the Doctoral Program in Biomedicine, Maud Kuistila, Otto Malm, and Epilepsialiitto foundations. During her Ph.D. studies, Olesia focused on cell-specific consequences of mitochondrial dysfunction in the brain. Most notably her research established astrocytes as a driver of pathology upon mitochondrial dysfunction in the brain. In our lab, Olesia uses a combination of cultured cell and mouse models to investigate the role of the mitochondrial SUMO ligase in host defense responses. Olesia’s position is currently supported by the Sigrid Juselius foundation and Redpoll Fellowships.
Expertise: mitochondrial signaling, astrocyte-neuron interactions, cilogenesis, viral infection, metabolism