Milla Valta

Working remotely on statistical analyses and manuscripts outside the scope of my newly finished PhD project to bring the projects to a close. Topics include the relationship between type 1 diabetes associated SNPs and disease endotypes and the effects of antibiotics on the neonatal immune system.

PhD thesis project with the title Immunological mechanisms in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-9276-8 The project yielded three publications in the area of type 1 diabetes genetics and immunology with a special focus on disease heterogeneity: https://publons.com/publon/10.1002/eji.201948378 https://doi.org/10.1111/pedi.13346 https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.909020

Interpreting and reporting patient sample results from cell-mediated tuberculosis immunity (TB-Spot) HLA gene testing supporting the diagnosing of type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, ankylosing spondylitis and lactose intolerance.

Research visit to the Translational Immunology group studying the effect of early antibiotic exposure on the maturation of the immune system. The study is a part of the EU Horizon 2020 funded Human Exposomic Determinants of Immune Mediated Diseases (HEDIMED) project.

Protocol setup and preliminary laboratory work leading to the start of my PhD project. My team and I created a pipeline for isolating peripheral blood monocytes for RNA work from fresh samples with quality control for cell type purity.

Laboratory work extracting DNA and carrying out different genetic tests (qPCR and PCR) in the areas of type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, ankylosing spondylitis and lactose intolerance. Genetic testing included both patient samples and research samples.

Laboratory work for a group working on osmotic stress signaling in Arabidopsis. Tasks included PCR based genotyping, plasmid constructions and plating seeds

Laboratory work for a group working on osmotic stress signaling in Arabidopsis. Tasks included PCR based genotyping, plasmid constructions and plating seeds.

Laboratory work in a group researching the gene regulation of cyanobacteria. Tasks included growing cyanobacteria in sterile conditions, heat shock experiments and protein analysis via western blotting.