Kalle M. Saksela (born 10 September 1962) is a Finnish

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...

. He has been a professor at

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

since 2005, where he leads the virology department.

Early life and education

Saksela was born on 10 September 1962 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. His father,

Eero Saksela Eero Juhani Saksela (born 6 January 1937) is a Finnish professor of medicine. He was born in Helsinki. He became a physician and took his medical doctorate in 1962. Having been chief physician at the Helsinki University Central Hospital, he was a p ...

, was professor of medicine at the

. In 1989 Saksela obtained his MD and PhD from the University of Helsinki under the supervision of

Kari Alitalo Kari Kustaa Alitalo (born 21 May 1952 in Kuopio) is a Finns, Finnish Doctor of Medicine, MD and a medical researcher. He is a foreign associated member of the National Academy of Sciences of the US. He became famous for his discoveries of several ...

Career

In 1989/1990 Saksela was research fellow with Helsinki's department of virology. In 1991 Saksela worked as a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

with David Baltimore at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then followed him to the Rockefeller University. There he worked as an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

From 1994 to 1996. After that he returned to Finland to become a professor for molecular medicine with the Institute for Medical Technology at the

University of Tampere The University of Tampere (UTA) ( fi, Tampereen yliopisto (Tay), ) was a public university in Tampere, Finland that was merged with Tampere University of Technology to create the new Tampere University on 1 January 2019. The university offered un ...

, but until 2000 he also remained an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

with

James E. Darnell James Edwin Darnell Jr. (born September 9, 1930, Columbus, Mississippi) is an American biologist who made significant contributions to RNA processing and cytokine signaling and is author of the cell biology textbook ''Molecular Cell Biology''. ...

's laboratory at

The Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

. 2005 Saksela moved to Helsinki to become a professor of virology at the University of Helsinki and the chairman of its virology department. In addition he also became the chief physician of the University Hospital's HUSLAB.Kalle Saksela
at the website of the

, retrieved 2021-03-15

COVID-19-related research

Saksela and coworkers developed during the spring of 2020 a patent-free

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

vaccine, which uses an

adenovirus Adenoviruses (members of the family ''Adenoviridae'') are medium-sized (90–100 nm), nonenveloped (without an outer lipid bilayer) viruses with an icosahedral nucleocapsid containing a double-stranded DNA genome. Their name derives from the ...

as a delivery system for genetic information to trigger the production of the

spike protein In virology, a spike protein or peplomer protein is a protein that forms a large structure known as a spike or peplomer projecting from the surface of an enveloped virus. as cited in The proteins are usually glycoproteins that form dimers or ...

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

. While being successful in animal trials the project could not secure funding for large human trials. Later in the year Saksela co-founded Rokote Laboratories with researchers from the

University of Eastern Finland The University of Eastern Finland ( fi, Itä-Suomen yliopisto) is a university in Finland founded in 2010 with campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio. History The Finnish Parliament passed the Universities Act on June 16, 2009, which, among other things ...

to develop a

nasal spray Nasal sprays are used to deliver medications locally in the nasal cavities or systemically. They are used locally for conditions such as nasal congestion and allergic rhinitis. In some situations, the nasal delivery route is preferred for syste ...

that could be used to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Recognition

In 2002 Saksela was awarded the Anders Jahre Prize for Young Scientists by the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

for his research on

Aids Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

.''Previous winners of Anders Jahre's Awards for Medical Research''
at the website of the University, retrieved 2021-03-15 In 2003 he became a member of the

Finnish Academy of Science and Letters The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (Finnish ''Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia''; Latin ''Academia Scientiarum Fennica'') is a Finnish learned society. It was founded in 1908 and is thus the second oldest academy in Finland. The oldest is the Fi ...

References

External links

Kalle Saksela
at the website of the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saksela, Kalle M. Living people Finnish virologists Academic staff of the University of Helsinki Members of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters 1962 births