Our team
Rokote Laboratories Finland Oy
Board
Seppo Ylä-Herttuala, MD, PhD, Academy Professor Chairman of the Board Dr. 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 Kalle Saksela is Professor and Chairman at the Department of Virology, University of Helsinki. He received his MD and PhD in 1989 from 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 in 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 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. |
Advisors
Kari Alitalo, MD, PhD, Academy Professor Scientific Advisor 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 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 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. |
Key Personnel
Tuija Keinonen, PhD (Pharm) CEO 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 pharmaceutical industry. She has been working in CRO industry about 30 years and acted as CEO for 15 years as well as clinical research director, quality director and has led contract manufacturing organization. She has held several positions of trust both in the private and public sector as well as board memberships. Additionally, she has been Honorary Consul of the Republic of Estonia since 2012. |
Erkko Ylösmäki, PhD, Adjunct Professor Director, R&D Dr. Erkko Ylösmäki, PhD and Adjunct Professor in Biological Drug development, has over 15 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 currently acts also as a scientific consultant for a clinical stage biotech company developing cancer immunotherapies. He earned his PhD in virology from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Helsinki in 2013. |
Anna-Kaisa Lehtivarjo, MSc Quality Director 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 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 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 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 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. |