Salla Maarit Koskela

Fabrication of high-performing yet renewable and biodegradable materials is one of the current challenges in sustainable development. A possible solution is offered by mechanically robust natural polymers such as silk and cellulose that have proven to be excellent candidates for next-generation sustainable materials. Nature also gives us inspiration how to assemble these building-blocks into complex and hierarchical bulk materials. The aim of my current project is to fabricate engineered living materials (ELMs) that take advantage of these robust natural polymers. I am especially interested in production of engineered enzymes and proteins in yeast that may be useful in altering the material properties. In addition, synthetic biology provides us interesting ways to control the material properties. Such living materials have a wide range of potential applications from therapeutic to self-healing purposes.

Currently I work as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Markus Linder's group at Aalto University. I have obtained a PhD at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. In my PhD work I focused on lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) and their utilization towards environmentally friendly production of nanocellulose and cellulose-based materials. My master's degree is from University of Helsinki, Finland, where my main subject was fungal biotechnology.

Key areas of expertise:

protein production in fungal hosts, carbohydrate-active enzymes, and the use of enzymes and proteins in fabrication of nanocellulose-based materials. 

Current students:

Karoliina Elfving, PhD student (co-supervisor, 6/2023-)

Tiia Siivola, PhD student (co-supervisor, 12/2023-)

Jenni Klemola, MSc student (2024-)

Cleopatra Siders Silva, BSc student (12/2023-)

Venla Laitinen, BSc student (1/2024-)

Activities:

• 267th ACS National Meeting and Expo (Speaker) Mar 17-21st 2024, New Orleans, USA
• The 5th International Cellulose Conference (Participant) 2023, Hiroshima, Japan
• MSc course "CHEM-E8110" (Lecturer) 2023, Aalto University
• ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (Reviewer) 2023
• Journal of Polymer Science (Reviewer) 2023
• PhD course "Plant Cell Walls" (Invited lecturer) Jan 12th 2023, University of Helsinki, Finland
• Undergraduate course in biological engineering (Invited speaker) Jul 21th 2022, Mapúa University, Philippines
• TAPPI Nano international conference on nanotechnology for renewable materials (Speaker) Jun 8-11th 2020, Helsinki, Finland (event cancelled due to covid-19)
• Green China, 1st International Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference (Speaker) Oct 17-19th 2019, Beijing, China
• Stockholm Cell Wall Meeting III (Speaker), Sep 18th 2019, Stockholm, Sweden
• 257th ACS National Meeting and Expo (Poster) Mar 31st - 4th Apr 2019, Orlando, USA
• 29th Fungal Genetics Conference (Poster) Mar 14-19th 2017, Pasific Grove, USA