Team

In addition to our group leader, Biswa, we have 8 team members in our lab in Oslo, Norway, and 4 team members in our lab in Helsinki, Finland. Find some further info about us below, as well as the list of alumni.

I lead the Sahu Lab research groups based in Oslo and Helsinki.

I am a genomics scientist by training with specialization in cancer research, mainly in transcription factor function and gene regulation in cancer.

My area of expertise is in transcription factor biology using several genome-wide functional genomics methods (ChIP-seq/nexus, bulk/single-cell RNA-seq), chromatin state (ATAC-seq), chromatin architecture methods (in situ HiC, ChIA-PET), cell fate conversion and lineage decision by transcription factors (transdifferention), high-throughput enhancer assays (MPRAs such as STARR-seq), genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 and their integrative computational analysis.

The goal of my research is to understand the role of non-coding regulatory genome in human diseases aiming towards precision translational medicine.

Group photo of our Oslo team in 2024
Group photo of our Oslo team in 2024

Post-doc

I’m a post-doctoral researcher at Sahu lab in Oslo and my work involves computational analysis of genomics datasets to understand the role of epigenome programming in human cancers.

I received my PhD in Informatics from the  University of Verona in Italy.

I’ve developed skills in bioinformatics algorithm programming, graph analysis and algorithm development, data analysis and statistical analysis. Furthermore I’ve worked with genomes, variant data and different kind of genetic data including development of a software for in-silico CRISPR/Cas assessment and determination.

Currently, I am working on genomics data that includes single cell genomics, machine learning models and long read sequencing data analysis.

Post-doc

I’m a post-doctoral researcher at Sahu Lab in Oslo and my work involves understanding the role of defined transcription factors in controlling pancreatic cell fate and their role in pancreatic cancer.

I received my Ph.D. in Pathology and Physiopathology at China Medical University in June, 2019 and then started my postdoc in Biswajyoti Sahu’s lab. Currently, my project focuses on the cell-fate conversion by direct reprogramming to make pancreatic excocrine cells. The goal is to understand the changes in 3D-genome architecture during this reprogramming process and getting better insight into the lineage-specificity of human cancers.

In particular, I use defined transcription factors for converting one cell type to another by a method known as transdifferentiation. The goal is to understand the role of these defined factors in modulating chromatin structure and gene expression during this dynamic process of transdifferentiation.

Celina

PhD Student

I’m a PhD Student at Sahu Lab in Oslo and my work involves understanding the molecular determinants operating at the chromatin level in endometriosis.

I completed my Masters Degree in the Molecular Bioscience and Biochemistry program from the University of Oslo in Norway. My Masters thesis work involved isolation and activation of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) cells. I was studying the effect of pharmacological inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies on the survival and proliferation of CLL cells for possible therapeutic development. The work involved multicolour flow cytometry, RNA work and confocal microscopy.

Currently, I am learning mammalian cell culture and modern genome-wide methods to understand chromatin structure, function and its role in gene regulation in human enhanceropathies such as in endometriosis and exploring parallels with cancer in terms of cellular plasticity.

Chi Xu

PhD Student

I’m a PhD student at the Sahu Lab in Oslo and my work involves dissecting the role of functional regulatory elements in human cancer using functional epigenetic and genome editing methods.

I received my master’s degree in Toxicology from Sun Yat-sen University, China. My master’s thesis focused on the regulation of cancer-related epigenetic modifications using CRISPR-dCas9. Currently, at NCMM, I am working on identification of regulation elements involved in the initiation of liver cancer using methods of next-Generation Sequencing and employing CRISPR/Cas9 tools.

Jiahao Guo

Researcher

I’m a researcher at Sahu Lab in Oslo and my work involves understanding the mechanisms of understanding the epigenetic regulation in tumor microenvironment of pancreatic cancer.

I completed my Master’s degree in Clinical Medicine at Capital Medical University in China. My research focuses on the role of the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), particularly cancer associated fibroblasts, to further explore the pathophysiological mechanisms and identify novel precision targets. Currently, I am learning and working on organoid co-culture techniques, combined with the latest multi-omics sequencing methods, to understand the mechanisms of carcinogenesis and metastasis.

Pia Ahnstrøm

Pia Ahnstrøm

Lab Engineer

I am a Principal Engineer in the Sahu lab in Oslo, and my work involves managing day-to-day operations in the laboratory, as well as assisting researchers in their research projects.

My background includes research in immunotherapy against solid cancer, specifically CAR T cells against Osteosarcoma, and general histology. I hold a B.Sc and M.Sc in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Oslo.

MSc Student

I’m doing Masters thesis in the Sahu Lab in Oslo and my work involves understanding the epigenetic determinants in endometriosis.

I am studying for my Masters Degree in the University of Oslo.

Currently, I am learning cell culture methods in the lab and routine molecular biology techniques.

MSc Student

I’m doing my Masters thesis jointly in the Sahu Lab in NCMM and in the Kristensen lab in the Oslo University Hospital. My work involves dissecting the role of driver transcription factors in primary human 3D breast organoids.

I am from Heidelberg in Germany and currently doing my Masters thesis project from University of Oslo.

Currently, I am learning molecular cloning work, plasmid preparation and lentiviral production to express my transcription factors of interest in lentiviral expression vector. In my project, I will be working with human 3D organoid cultures to express my transcription factors of interest and then study their role in gene expression and chromatin state.

Divyesh

Post-doc

I’m a post-doctoral researcher at Sahu Lab in Helsinki, and my work involves understanding the non-coding regulatory genome for example the role of transposable elements in cancer-specific gene regulation.

I received my Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar in Dec, 2020 and then started my postdoctoral research in Biswajyoti Sahu’s lab. Currently, my project focuses on understanding the non-coding regulatory genome with a special emphasis on the role of transposable elements in organ-specific cancer.

I am using next-generation sequencing based methods such as massively parallel reporter assays (STARR-seq) to decode enhancer function and nascent RNA mapping for understanding their role in cancer genome reprogramming.

Konsta

Konsta Karttunen, MsC

PhD student

I am a researcher at the Sahu lab in Helsinki lab and my work involves in understanding the role of transposable elements in cancer-specific gene regulation.

I am interested in understanding the role of non-coding genome in gene regulation. In particular, I am looking at the transposable elements and their role in oncogenic repogramming of enhancers. I am involved in the computational analysis of RNA-seq data for gene expression, transcription factor binding, chromatin accessibility and functional enhnacer activity data.

I am also analyzing long-read nanopore sequencing data for improved mapping of repetitive elements in cancer cells.

Ville

PhD student

I’m a PhD Student at Sahu lab in Helsinki and my work involves understanding the critical pancreatic cancer-specific gene regulation and the role of transcription factors in enhancer and super-enhancer structures.

I am interested in understanding the role of cancer-specific enhancers and specifically the super enhancer architecture in primary and cancer cells.

In particular, I am involved in the data analysis of next-generation Illumina sequencing datasets of genome-wide transcription factor binding, epigenetic modifications and chromatin accessibility.

Veera

Lab Manager

I am studying for my Masters degree in Microbiology at the University of Helsinki, and I am currently working as a lab manager in the Enhancer Biology laboratory shared with Dr. Päivi Pihlajamaa’s laboratory in the Applied Tumor Genomics Program.

My work involves managing the research operations and assisting researchers with their experiments and day to day work in the laboratory.

I also learn new methods and techniques in cell and molecular biology used in cancer research.

Alumni

Rasma Gutsmite, MSc, Lab Engineer at our Oslo lab, now Head Engineer in NCMM
Jihan Xia, PhD, Post-Doc – University of Helsinki, Finland, now co-PI in Chongqing Medical University, China
Nikita Poddar, MSc, Research assistant, now Bioinformatician in Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, USA
Pinja Perkkiö, Lab Manager, now Masters student in University of Helsinki, Finland
Frederik Labonte, Erasmus internship, now Masters student in University of Cologne, Germany
Kerim Yavuz, MSc, Research assistant, now PhD student Koç University, Turkey