Leena Rauhala

My original research centered on the effects of UVB on epidermis. I defended my PhD thesis "Effects of UVB-exposure, extracellular nucleotides and betaine on keratinocyte biology and hyaluronan metabolism" in April 2017 at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF). After that, I also briefly worked at UEF as a post-doc assessing inflammatory mediators in the context of melanoma.

I have most recently (2018-2025) worked on different neuropathology models to assess variable disease-relevant biomarkers in a preclinical research context. My work has centered around Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, muscle dystrophies and neuropathy models as well as some rare diseases.

As a fully qualified teacher (subject credentials including biology and geography), I have taught anatomy and histology for students of medicine, dentistry and biomedicine during my PhD studies at UEF. I have also supervised one MSc thesis in 2023, as well as actively participated in internal cross-trainings in my latest (a contract research organisation) position, so teaching has gone hand in hand with my research interests from very early on. I am also a graduate from JYU (MSc, 2006).