Elina Ikonen

Elina Ikonen is a Full Professor of Cell and Tissue Biology at the University of Helsinki and Principal Investigator at the Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research. She chairs the Helsinki BioImaging Platform and coordinates the Fondation Leducq Transatlantic Network of Excellence. Her research focuses on lipid metabolism, membrane contact sites, and trafficking.

• Full Professor, University of Helsinki (2005–present)
• Principal Investigator, Minerva Foundation Institute (2012–present)
• Chair, Helsinki BioImaging Platform (2016–present)

Her work explores lipid transport mechanisms, including seipin's role in ER-lipid droplet interactions and cholesterol trafficking pathways. She has pioneered methods like auxin-inducible degron systems for protein degradation studies. Her publications highlight lipid droplet dynamics and lysosomal lipid export.

Notable awards: EBSA Avanti Lipid Award (2021), EMBO Member (2019), Biomedicum Helsinki Medal (2019). She has supervised 13 PhD students to completion and currently mentors 5 PhD candidates and postdocs.