Our team

Rokote Laboratories Finland Ltd

Board and advisors

Seppo Ylä-Herttuala

MD, PhD, Academy Professor
Chairman of the Board

BIO

Seppo Ylä-Herttuala is a world leader in viral gene therapy for cardiovascular diseases as well as brain and bladder tumors. His team was the first to use adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to human arteries already in 1995. Since then, he has conducted nine Phase I–III clinical trials in cardiovascular and cancer gene therapy. He has also been heavily involved in the development of new gene transfer vectors and led large scale manufacturing process development of gene therapy products. He has served as President of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (2010–2012) and as Editor-in-Chief of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy’s leading journal Molecular Therapy (2015–2019). Currently, he is the head of the National Virus Vector Laboratory in the University of Eastern Finland. He is one of the original founders of Rokote Laboratories Finland Oy.

Kalle Saksela

MD, PhD, Professor
Member of the Board

BIO

Kalle Saksela is Professor and Chairman at the Department of Virology, University of Helsinki. He received his MD and PhD in 1989 from the University of Helsinki. After that he was a postdoctoral fellow in the USA in the laboratory of Nobel laureate David Baltimore (the Whitehead Institute, later the Rockefeller University). In 1994 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Rockefeller University. In 1996 became Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Tampere, and in 2005 was appointed to his current position at the University of Helsinki. He has a strong track record in basic research on cellular and molecular biology of virus–host cell interactions, as well as in different aspects of applied virology, such as phage-assisted protein engineering and design of viral vectors for therapeutic use. He is an inventor of several patents and has been actively involved in biotech start-up companies. He is one of the original founders of Rokote Laboratories Finland Oy.

Aki Prihti

MSc (Econ)
Member of the Board

BIO

Aki Prihti joined the Board of Rokote Laboratories Finland in the summer of 2021. He is CEO of Aplagon Oy and serves as a board member in Herantis Pharma Oyj, Medtentia International Ltd Oy and Dassiet Oy. He is also one of the founders of Inveni Capital, a life science focused venture capital fund. Aki has more than twenty years of experience in building life science growth companies, both in operational and board roles.

Tuija Keinonen

PhD (Pharm)
Advisor to the Board and Management

BIO

Tuija Keinonen is PhD (Pharm) focused on Pharmacology and Toxicology from University of Eastern Finland. She has extensive experience in business management, especially in contract research business, its establishment and working with international pharmaceutical industry. She has been working in Oy Medfiles Ltd (CRO) over 30 years and acted as CEO for 15 years as well as clinical research director and quality director, and has led Oy Medipharmia Ltd (CDMO) as CEO. She has held several positions of trust both in the private and public sectors as well as board memberships (eg. TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, where acting also as Chair of the Board). She has also certified board member and chair of the board status (CBM). In addition, she works as an advisor in several healthcare and health technology companies. Additionally, she has been Honorary Consul of the Republic of Estonia since 2012.

Kari Alitalo

MD, PhD, Academy Professor
Scientific Advisor

BIO

Kari Alitalo is Professor Emeritus and Academician of Science. He is tenured Research Professor of the Finnish Academy of Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki, and Director of Centre of Excellence in Translational Cancer Biology and Wihuri Research Institute. He is one of the original founders of Rokote Laboratories Finland Oy.

Pasi Kemppainen

MSc (Tech)
Strategy Advisor

BIO

Pasi Kemppainen is co-founder of Rokote Laboratories Finland Oy. He has extensive experience of early-stage technology venturing and has held leadership positions in life science and high-tech industries including Santen Pharmaceutical, Novo Nordisk, Epista Life Science, Nokia and Telia. Currently he is working as a global supply chain strategy director at Santen Pharmaceutical and as an advisor for various high-tech startups.

Kari Varkila

MD, PhD, MBA
Clinical Development Advisor

BIO

Kari Varkila is the Chief Medical Officer at TILT Biotherapeutics and an independent consultant and an advisor at several biopharmaceutical and health technology companies as well as in organizations governing healthcare. He has obtained MD/PhD and specialist in clinical microbiology degrees at the University of Helsinki. He has also an MBA from the University of Lausanne/IMD in Switzerland. He has also certified board member (CBM) status. During his early career he worked in academic and biopharmaceutical research in Finland and in the US. Following that he held for more than 20 years leadership positions in pharmaceutical industry and in healthcare institutions. In addition, he has worked as a senior strategy consultant in an insurance company and in a multinational consulting company. One of his areas of special expertise is vaccine research and development. He is also an experienced influencer in the healthcare policy arena and an active Board member in several startup companies and research foundations.

Jenni Vuola

PhD, Adjunct Professor
Business Development Advisor

BIO

Jenni Vuola has a PhD in general microbiology and an associate professorship in infection research from Helsinki University. She has worked as a research scientist in vaccine development at the Finnish National Public Health Institute (later Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare), and at Oxford University in the UK. She then moved to the international pharmaceutical industry where she worked in several leadership positions both on local and global levels. She has also held Board memberships at Pharma Industry Finland and at Federation of Finnish Special Commodity Trade ETU. Alongside her work Jenni Vuola has completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Health Economics at University of York in the UK, a Minor in Accounting at Aalto University in Finland, and a Certified Board Member degree (CBM). Currently she works as an independent consultant and advisor.

Kirsi Hellström

PhD, Adjunct Professor
CMC Advisor

BIO

Kirsi Hellström holds a PhD in biotechnology from the University of Jyväskylä and a title of docent in cell and molecular biology from the University of Helsinki. She has worked in cancer research at the unit of Medical Biotechnology of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and in alphavirus replication research at the University of Helsinki. Most recently she has worked at Targovax Oy (now Circio Holding ASA) in various CMC positions, especially in manufacturing and supply chains of oncolytic adenoviruses for clinical trials. She has also worked as an interim Head of CMC and as a Biosafety Officer of the company.

Laura Suoranta

MSc (Tech)
CMC Advisor

BIO

Laura Suoranta has graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology (Aalto) and holds a Master of Science (tech) degree in bioengineering. She has worked for more than a decade in the clinical development of oncolytic viruses at Targovax Oy (formerly Oncos Therapeutics Oy, now Circio Holding ASA) in various CMC positions. In recent years, she was responsible for the development and implementation of an industrial-scale GMP manufacturing process for oncolytic adenoviruses as well as the related comparability demonstration. Previously, she was responsible for the adenovirus GMP production for phase I and II clinical trials. Before her career with viral vectors, she has worked in the plant biotechnology research group at VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd, where her work focused e.g. on producing active pharmaceutical compounds in plant cell and tissue cultures.

Nora Rauhala

CRA

BIO

Nora Rauhala has worked for several years in the field of clinical trials as a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) and a Medical Writer. Tasks include for example submissions of Clinical Trial Applications, training of study site personnel and monitoring of trials at study site. Nora has also written clinical study protocols and reports. Nora Rauhala is a Master of Science student, medical physics as major subject.

Sammeli Liikkanen

PhD, eMBA
Digital Medicine Advisor

BIO

Sammeli Liikkanen is Rokote Laboratories Finland Oy's advisor in the digitalization of the clinical research program and new solutions. He has extensive experience in pharmaceutical research and development, as well as in the digitalization of medicine and healthcare. Nowadays, he works at Orion as the director of digital medicine and the leader of Orion's research ecosystem project. In addition, he acts as an advisor to several companies related to digital health.

Key Personnel

Erkko Ylösmäki

PhD, Adjunct Professor
CEO

BIO

Erkko Ylösmäki, PhD and Adjunct Professor in Biological Drug development, has 20 years of experience in the development of novel oncolytic viruses and virus and bacteria-based cancer immunotherapy platforms. In 2019 he received the Young Virologist of the Year award from the Foundation for Research on Viral Diseases. Before joining Rokote Laboratories Finland Oy, he worked as an Academy of Finland-funded researcher at the Immunovirotherapy Laboratory lead by Professor Vincenzo Cerullo. He earned his PhD in virology from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Helsinki in 2013.

Anna-Kaisa Lehtivarjo

MSc
Quality Director

BIO

Anna-Kaisa Lehtivarjo holds an MSc in biotechnology and molecular biology. She has over 10 years of experience in quality assurance and CMC regulatory affairs in advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) manufacturing industry. Anna-Kaisa Lehtivarjo has worked in many quality roles, such as Qualified Person, Regulatory Affairs Manager and Quality Unit Director, being responsible for the Quality Assurance and Systems, Quality Control and Environmental Monitoring units of the manufacturing site.

Tobias Freitag

MD
Head of Vaccine Immunity

BIO

Tobias Freitag is immunologist and medical researcher. He obtained his medical doctorate at the University of Tübingen, and has worked in clinical gastroenterology and rheumatology at the University of Erlangen and at West Middlesex University Hospital in London. He received post-doctoral training in Detlef Schuppan's group in the Dept. of Gastroenterology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, and in Seppo Meri's group in the Dept. of Bacteriology and Immunology at the University of Helsinki. Tobias Freitag is an expert in (mucosal) immunology, therapeutic immunomodulation, vaccine immunity and translational medicine, and has gained experience in many publicly-funded and industry-sponsored academic research projects. He is a university researcher and principal investigator within the Dept. of Bacteriology and Immunology at the University of Helsinki.

Katriina Lavikainen

BSc
Clinical Trial Manager

BIO

Katriina Lavikainen has more than 20 years of experience in clinical trials in both contract research organizations and pharmaceutical industry. She has worked as a clinical research associate (CRA) as well as a trial authorization and contracts coordinator. She is Registered Nurse (Public Health) and Bachelor of Science (Health and Social Management) by training.