Rate My Professor Susanna Fagerholm

Susanna Fagerholm is Professor in Cell and Molecular Biology and Director of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Biosciences within the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki. She leads the Integrins in Immunity research group at Biocentre 1, Viikki Campus, investigating the roles of β2-integrins in immune cell function, including regulation of dendritic cell metabolism, epigenetics, nuclear deformation, and anti-tumor responses. Her work spans integrin signaling in immunity, tumor immunology, microglial responses in stroke and Alzheimer's disease, and biomarkers in urothelial cancer.

Fagerholm completed her PhD in 2002, jointly supervised by Prof. Carl G. Gahmberg at the University of Helsinki and Prof. Gordon Cohen at the University of Dundee. She conducted postdoctoral research in Prof. Gahmberg’s laboratory from 2004 to 2007, then served as Principal Investigator and lecturer in Immunology at the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2013, heading a research group on leukocyte integrins. In 2013, she returned to the University of Helsinki on a Finnish Academy Research Fellowship to establish her independent group. Additional roles include Director of the Integrative Life Science doctoral programme (2018–2021), supervisor for doctoral and master’s theses, journal editor, and committee member in national and international bodies. She presented a plenary talk at the UK Adhesion conference in London in 2016, was elected to the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters in 2025, and received a Global Fellowship at the University of St Andrews in 2024. Key publications include “β2-Integrins regulate dendritic cells through nuclear deformation and activation of phospholipase A2 and DNA damage-inducible GADD34” (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2026), “Soft matter mechanics of immune cell aggregates” (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2025), “β2-integrins as biomarkers in urothelial cancer” (PLoS One, 2025), and “β2-Integrin Adhesion Regulates Dendritic Cell Epigenetic and Metabolic Reprogramming” (Cancer Immunology Research, 2021). Her research has garnered over 4,400 citations with an h-index of 28.