Home » Team
Our team has 16 members + alumni with backgrounds in biosciences and clinical medicine. We have previously worked in academic laboratories, hospitals and private companies.
Our laboratory officially started in January 2019 at the Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway located in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
Group leader
Emma is the founder of the group and her main project is to keep the lab funded. She has previously worked in genetics, high-throughput biology, different paediatrics departments and emergency rooms across Southern Finland.
For her education she went to the University of Eastern Finland (MD), University of Helsinki (PhD) and Karolinska Institute (Postdoc).
Her favourite pastimes include riding and petting horses (although she rarely does it nowadays).
Deputy group leader
Anna’s main project at Haapaniemi Lab involves optimizing and evaluating the prime editing system (pegRNA) in cell lines.
She has previously worked in molecular biology, genomics and medical genetics at the University of Bergen, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital.
Anna has a Master’s degree in biotechnology from the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, and a PhD in gene regulation from the University of Bergen, Norway. She has also held a Postdoc position at Sydney University, Australia, and researcher
positions at the University of Bergen and Oslo University Hospital.
When Anna is not working, her favourite pastimes include bonsai making, scuba diving and reading.
Lab Manager
Monika’s role is to keep the lab organised. She has previously worked in molecular biology and immunology at the Department of Pathology at Oslo University Hospital.
She has a master’s degree in molecular biology from the University of Gdansk, Poland, and a PhD in cell biology from the University of Oslo, Norway. She has held Postdoc and researcher positions at Oslo University Hospital.
On her free time Monika likes knitting, listening to audiobooks (fantasy and crime stories) and walking her dog, Watson.
Lab Technician
Britt’s work involves lab technician duties as well as working with biobanking of PBMCs, helping with T-cell editing, and the collection of stem cells from cord blood at Rikshospitalet.
Britt has previously worked as a principal engineer in a laboratory at the department of gastromedicine at Rikshospitalet.
She has an Integrated Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, with a specialisation in Biotechnology, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Britt’s favourite pastimes are travelling, hiking, reading and hanging out with friends.
Research Intern
Dalila works with Shiva on the CARMIL-2 deficiency project by immunophenotyping T-cells using flow cytometry as well as getting hands-on experience in CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology.
In Dalila’s previous role as a master student in Mirco Schmolke’s group at UNIGE, she worked on host-pathogen interactions, focusing on defining the molecular interface between Influenza A virus protein PB1-F2 and human host inflammasome NLRP3.
She had her bachelor internship at the Hereditary & Congenital diseases department of Charles-Nicolle hospital in Tunis, and studied the WT1 gene in different clinical cases of Wilms tumor (nephroblastoma).
Dalila has a BSc degree in Biotechnology from Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Sidi Thabet (ISBST) in Tunisia and an MSc degree in Biology from University of Geneva in Switzerland.
Dalila likes travelling and spending quality time with family & friends in her spare time.
Senior scientist
At Haapaniemi Lab, Shiva works with the CRISPR gene editing platform for STAT1 GOF disease.
Her previous work experience includes working as Postdoc and Researcher at the Department of Immunology, University of
Oslo, where she investigated T cell immunology in celiac disease.
Shiva has a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Kathmandu University, Nepal, a Master’s degree in Molecular Biosciences from the University of Oslo, and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Oslo.
Outside of work, Shiva enjoys crocheting, cooking and hiking.
senior consultant, pediatric immunology
Hans Christian oversees the clinical pediatric immunology at Oslo University Hospital (Rikshospitalet) and has since September 2022 worked part-time in the lab.
He completed his MD and PhD degrees at Oslo University Hospital and had a research stay at National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland, Bethesda.
PhD Student
Katariina’s main project involves evaluating the safety and efficacy of different CRISPR systems in patient peripheral immune cells.
She has previously worked in inflammasome biology at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Science.
Katariina has a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Science (Karolinska Institutet). When she’s not at work, she is either hiking, travelling or daydreaming.
PhD Student
Pavel optimises and evaluates different CRISPR-based tools for precise gene correction in hematopoietic stem cells, establishing in vivo platform, methodologies, and techniques for future transplantation of gene edited cells into the immunodeficient mice strains.
He has previously worked in human epigenetic lab (miRNA, DNA methylation, CRISPR/dCas9, NGS) at Charles University, Medical Faculty (Czech Republic).
Pavel has a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Molecular Biology and Medical Genetics (Brno, Masaryk University, Czech Republic), ERASMUS+ Internship (Aarhus University, Denmark).
His favourite pastims are playing the cello, reading (fantasy, sci-fi, magical realism), travelling, cooking/baking/brewing beer, history (Vikings!), visiting and enjoying cafes with specialty coffee.
PhD student
Oline’s main project involves large-scale CRISPR guide screening for gene editing of primary immunodeficiency disorders with different patient-specific mutations.
She has previously worked in cancer genomics and diagnostics at Haukeland University Hospital.
She has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Genetics from Trinity College Dublin and a Master’s degree in Biomedicine from the University of Bergen.
Her favourite pastimes include knitting, watching TV, going to quizzes and spending time with friends.
PhD student
Carolina focuses on clinical translation of optimised CRISPR editing protocols for primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDDs).
She has previously worked as a Research Assistant at the institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at Gothenburg University, and as a GMP Cell Production Associate at Takara Bio Europe in Gothenburg, Sweden.
She has a Bachelor/Master degrees in Medical Biology from Linköping University, and has held internship and scholarship positions at Gothenburg University at the institute of Neuroscience and Physiology.
In her spare time, Carolina enjoys gaming and hanging out with her Doberman, Scooby, and her three cats.
PhD Student
Frida was doing a master project in studying and optimising the precision of CRISPR-based editing tools in immune cells.
She previously worked at Norwegian Research Establishment (FFI) and Borregaard. She was also a laboratory teaching assistant in general and organic chemistry at Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). She also worked as an instructor at Vitenparken Campus, creating and teaching scientific courses to young adults about biotechnology, including gene editing and CRISPR technology.
While working at the lab, Frida was doing MSc studies in Biotechnology, specialising in molecular biology (NMBU). She had completed her BSc in Biotechnology and in Chemistry (NMBU).
Frida enjoys cooking, hiking, listening to podcasts and drinking wine with her friends.
After completing her MSc thesis, Frida moved to a scientist position at Zelluna
Immunotherapy.
Master student
Henriette’s main project is using CRISPR to generate a rat sleep-deprivation model. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from NMBU in Ås, and is currently taking her Master’s Degree in Biotechnology with a specialisation in Molecular Biology.
On her free time, Henriette enjoys working out, reading fantasy and playing video games.
Master Student
Main project: Developing an epegRNA screening platform for primary immunodeficiency mutations in HEK293 cells and Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells (HSPCs), focusing on optimizing a clinically compatible epegRNA selection pipeline.
Janaarthan previously worked at the Department of Molecular Biology at Nawaloka Hospital in Sri Lanka. He also worked as a SAS programmer for a pharmaceutical company on clinical trial data migration projects for prostate and lung cancers.
Janaarthan is currently doing his Master’s degree in Biotechnology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and has a Bachelor’s (Hons) in Biotechnology from Nilai University, Malaysia.
Janaarthan enjoys playing and watching cricket, hiking and being outdoors.
Master student
Siv’s work includes trying to correct a Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 1 (STAT1) gain-of-function mutation in a patient’s T cells by applying the CRISPR-Cas9 technology.
Siv has worked in the section of Immunohematology, Department of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine at Oslo University Hospital.
Siv has a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Laboratory Sciences (bioingeniørfag) from OsloMet, and now attending a Masters program in Biomedicine at OsloMet.
Her favorite pastimes include cooking, drinking wine, reading, watching TV and spending time with friends.
Master student
At Haapaniemi Lab, Eystein’s main project involves testing the feasibility of BAR-Seq in gene-edited T-cells.
Eystein has a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from the University of Tromsø, and is currently taking a master’s degree in Biotechnology at NMBU.
Eystein’s favorite pastimes include cooking, boardgames and sleeping.
Web Designer
Marion is a Web Designer at her freelance business, Enchanted Forest Design, and manages the hosting, maintenance, design and content support for the Haapaniemi Lab website.
In her free time Marion enjoys creative writing, video games (especially World of Warcraft), playing with her two cats, rock collecting and daily walks.
MSc Student
Inkeri’s main project at the lab involved writing her master thesis while keeping edited primary T cells alive and happy. From time to time she optimised editing in reporter cell lines.
Erasmus Student
Kathrin helped Zhuokun with screening and studying the CRISPR system in cell lines.
Research intern
While at Haapaniemi Lab, Bas also helped Zhuokun with screening and studying the CRISPR system in cell lines.
Erasmus Student
Carola worked on identifying off-target effects of the CRISPR-Cas9 system while working on her Final Degree Project. She also supported other PhD students with their projects, learning new techniques.
Erasmus Student
Lisa’s main project focused on identifying off-target effects of the CRISPR-Cas9 system. In addition, she helped Monika set up Cas9WT protein production in order to produce our own Cas9WT.
PhD Student
Ganna’s main project was to validate CRISPR screening results, with the goal of making the system more efficient and accurate.
Master student
Sigrid’s work involved improving precise CRISPR editing by local chromatin modulation.
Post doc
Nail’s work focused on developing CRISPR gene editing platform for STAT1 GOF disease.
MsC Student
Oda’s main role was optimising a custom CRISPR platform in RPE1 cells and testing a custom platform in PBMCs for her master project.
Research Assistant
Jacob’s main project was the utilisation of novel factors for improving precise editing outcomes in hematopoietic stem cells for future applications in animal and clinical studies. He also assisted in ongoing animal experiments.
Master student
Tuva’s main project at our lab involved studying and optimizing the precision of CRISPR-based editing of the ADA2
gene in immune cells.
Master student
Ruchi’s main project was a REM sleep deprivation model using CRISPR.
PhD Student
Zhuokun worked mainly in screening and studying the CRISPR system in cell lines.
Master Student
Thapelo assisted PhD students in screening and validating CRISPR cell lines, and later worked on his master thesis on EpegRNA screening platform for primary immunodeficiency mutations.