University of Turku researcher Jonna Alanko has received the Young Investigator Award of the Scandinavian Society for Immunology. The award is given for high-quality immunological research and promotion of the field of immunology. Alanko studies the movement of immune cells in tissues.

Jonna Alanko is an Academy Research Fellow and a group leader at Turku Bioscience Centre. Alanko and her Immune Cell Navigation group are studying how immune cells, and especially dendritic cells, migrate and navigate along different molecular cues.

Jonna Alanko completed her doctorate in 2016 in Professor Johanna Ivaska’s group at the University of Turku, after which she did extensive postdoctoral research abroad in Professor Michael Sixt’s group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria.  After returning to Finland, Alanko continued her career as InFLAMES Postdoctoral Fellow, before successfully securing funding to establish her own research group. 

Alanko’s group studies how immune cells find their way through the body, for example, to an infection.

“We focus on dendritic cells – the immune system’s fast-moving messengers – and the chemical signals called chemokines that guide them.  Efficient, directional dendritic cell migration is critically important for human health and defects have been linked to various autoimmune diseases,” Alanko says.

Dendritic cells shape their own environment

Alanko’s work has revealed that dendritic cells can shape their own chemokine environment, creating “self-generated” gradients that allow them and nearby T cells to navigate efficiently in complex tissue environments.

This guidance mechanism was previously unknown, so Alanko has opened up new avenues of research to understand immune responses. The research group’s aim is to reveal the detailed mechanisms of dendritic cell navigation.

“Once we know what they are, we may be able to guide the cells into the desired place, such as towards tumours or away from autoimmune sites,” says Jonna Alanko.

The research is funded by the Instrumentarium Science Foundation, Research Council of Finland and ImmuDocs pilot project. Alanko received the award on 16 October at the Scandinavian Society for Immunology conference in Stockholm, where she also gave a presentation on her research.