Best Practices in Microbiota Research 

Eveliina Hanski is a researcher working on the mammalian gut microbiota, with a focus on its development in early life. Her work focuses on understanding both the temporal changes within the microbial community as well as their influence on host development and health. She has extensive experience in working with a range of systems from lab mouse models to humans and wild animals.

Mikael Niku is a senior lecturer at Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki. He leads the Developmental Interactions research group, investigating how the maternal microbiota modulates the perinatal development of the intestinal immune system. 

Niku studied biochemistry and developmental biology at the University of Oulu. He did his PhD on the development of the bovine immune system and circulating stem cells at the University of Helsinki. He then worked as lecturer in physiology and anatomy at the Department of Human Nutrition, studying the impacts of diet on intestinal health. In 2015, he visited the Veterinary Faculty at Melbourne University.

Niku’s group has studied the early development of the gut microbiota in cattle, horses and pig. Currently he is especially interested in how the metabolites and extracellular vesicles produced by maternal microbiota influence the mammalian fetus. He is actively collaborating with cattle and pig health researchers in Finland and elsewhere. Niku is in the board of the Finnish Society for Immunology.

Antti Karkman is a University Lecturer at the Department of Microbiology at the University of Helsinki. He is a HiLIFE fellow and also affiliated with the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and serves as a supervisor for two doctoral programs: the Doctoral Programme in Food Chain and Health, and the Doctoral Programme in Microbiology and Biotechnology. Antti’s research focuses on microbiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology, with an emphasis on antibiotic resistance.

I have experience in studying HIV-1 drug resistance mutations, particularly within the unique epidemiological context of Estonia’s HIV-1 CRF06_cpx epidemics. My work includes contributing to the creation of the Estonian HIV database and exploring the relationship between human genetic factors—primarily chemokine receptors and their ligands (CCL3L1, CCR5, etc.)—and bloodborne viral infections such as HIV, HBV, HCV, and GBV-C. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been involved in developing SARS-CoV-2 genotyping assays and mapping the epidemiological landscape in Estonia. Currently, my research focuses on the human gut microbiome and virome.