Rate My Professor Mauri Kostiainen

Professor Mauri A. Kostiainen serves as a full professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Aalto University, heading the Biohybrid Materials group within the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems. He earned his Master of Science degree in organic chemistry from the University of Helsinki in 2005 and his Doctor of Science in Technology in engineering physics from the Helsinki University of Technology in 2008. After his PhD, Kostiainen spent 2.5 years as a postdoctoral researcher at Radboud University's Institute for Molecules and Materials in Nijmegen, Netherlands, where he developed novel approaches in chemical and physical virology. In 2011, he returned to Aalto University as an Academy of Finland postdoctoral fellow, joined the faculty of the School of Chemical Technology in 2013, and currently holds a full professorship.

His research specializes in designing biohybrid materials by integrating biological components such as DNA nanostructures, virus capsids, protein cages, and lignin with synthetic materials for advanced applications in biomedicine, catalysis, purification, and sustainable materials production. With over 12,256 citations on Google Scholar, his influential publications include "Properties and chemical modifications of lignin: Towards lignin-based nanomaterials for biomedical applications" (Progress in Materials Science, 2018), "A simple process for lignin nanoparticle preparation" (Green Chemistry, 2016), "Electrostatic assembly of binary nanoparticle superlattices using protein cages" (Nature Nanotechnology, 2013), "Virus Encapsulated DNA Origami Nanostructures for Cellular Delivery" (Nano Letters, 2014), and "DNA nanostructures as smart drug-delivery vehicles and molecular devices" (Trends in Biotechnology, 2015). Kostiainen has secured prestigious funding, including a €2 million European Research Council Consolidator Grant for the ProCrystal project (2021–2026), aimed at developing multicomponent protein cage co-crystals. He has been honored with the Young Investigator Award from the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion in 2015 and the World Cultural Council Special Recognition in 2014. Additionally, he participates in leading research consortia such as the Research Council of Finland Centre of Excellence in Life-Inspired Hybrid Materials (LIBER) and the GeneCellNano competence cluster.