Our 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.
Current team
Adminstration & leadership
Emma Haapaniemi
Group leader
Writing (grants, permit applications, papers)
45%
Helping the team with their projects
40%
Practising clinical medicine
15%
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).
Anna Komisarczuk
Deputy group leader
Planning and performing experiments
60%
Supervision
20%
Data analysis and writing
20%
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.
Monika Szymańska
Lab Manager
Lab maintenance
60%
Performing experiments
20%
Writing, reading
20%
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.
Britt Olaug Lindestad
Lab Technician
Lab technician duties
50%
Organizing biobank
25%
Experiments
25%
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.
Dalila Sabrine Hedhili
Research Intern
Lab experiments
60%
Planning experiments and data analysis
30%
Other lab tasks
10%
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 scientists
Shiva Dahal-Koirala
Senior scientist
Planning, executing experiments and data analysis
70%
Literature
25%
Other tasks
5%
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.
Hans Christian Erichsen
senior consultant, pediatric immunology
Seeing & choosing patients for research projects
60%
Supervision & adding clinical relevance to lab projects
25%
Planning clinical trials
15%
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 candidates
Katariina Mamia
PhD Student
Planning and executing experiments
70%
Data analysis & literature
20%
Other
10%
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.
Pavel Kopčil
PhD Student
Planning and performing experiments
70%
Reading papers
15%
Other lab work
15%
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.
Oline Eriksen Rio
PhD student
Lab experiments
60%
Planning experiments and data analysis
30%
Reading, writing and other tasks
10%
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.
Carolina Wieczorek Ervik
PhD student
Experiments and analysing data
50%
Reading papers and writing
40%
Other lab work
10%
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.
Frida Høsøien Haugen
PhD Student
Planning and executing experiments
70%
Literature and writing
20%
Data analysis
10%
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 students
Henriette N. Myrland
Master student
Planning and performing experiments
70%
Reading papers and writing
20%
Data analysis
10%
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.
Janaarthan Ganeshan
Master Student
Planning and performing experiments
50%
Reading literature and writing
40%
Data analysis
10%
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.
Siv Skundberg Jensen
Master student
Planning and performing experiments
50%
Reading literature and writing
40%
Data analysis
10%
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.
Eystein Lie Asdal
Master student
Planning and performing experiments
60%
Reading papers and writing
30%
Data analysis
10%
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.
Associated members
Marion Hallapera
Web Designer
Web design
20%
Content creation and support
50%
Site maintenance and improvements
30%
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.
Alumni
Inkeri Soppa
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.
Kathrin Menzner
Erasmus Student
Kathrin helped Zhuokun with screening and studying the CRISPR system in cell lines.
Bas Koppenaal
Research intern
While at Haapaniemi Lab, Bas also helped Zhuokun with screening and studying the CRISPR system in cell lines.
Carola Pont Vallès
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.
Lisa Lutz
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.
Ganna Reint
PhD Student
Ganna’s main project was to validate CRISPR screening results, with the goal of making the system more efficient and accurate.
Sigrid Fu Skjelbostad
Master student
Sigrid’s work involved improving precise CRISPR editing by local chromatin modulation.
Nail
Fatkhutdinov
Post doc
Nail’s work focused on developing CRISPR gene editing platform for STAT1 GOF disease.
Oda Almåsbak
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.
Jacob Conradi
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.
Tuva Sundell
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.
Ruchi Saigal
Master student
Ruchi’s main project was a REM sleep deprivation model using CRISPR.
Zhuokun Li
PhD Student
Zhuokun worked mainly in screening and studying the CRISPR system in cell lines.
Thapelo Mathabela
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.