Rate My Professor Taavi Torga

Taavi Torga is a Lecturer in Histology in the Department of Anatomy at the Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu. He holds a PhD in Medicine from the University of Tartu, where he defended his doctoral thesis titled "Association of molecular markers CILP-2, DDR2 and C2C with the severity of tissue damage in knee osteoarthritis" on September 5, 2025. Supervised by Professor Andres Arend, Associate Professor Siim Suutre, Professor Kalle Kisand, and Associate Professor Marina Aunapuu, the thesis examined biomarker expression in cartilage samples from patients undergoing total knee replacement surgery. Using the OARSI OA Cartilage Histopathology Assessment System, the study correlated local pathology and macroscopic damage with biomarker levels, identifying CILP-2 and C2C as superior markers for assessing knee osteoarthritis severity compared to DDR2. A companion methodological investigation optimized antigen retrieval techniques for immunohistochemistry of these markers in osteoarthritic cartilage.

Torga's academic interests center on osteoarthritis pathogenesis, cartilage degeneration, molecular biomarker validation via immunohistochemistry, and reproductive tissue histology. Key publications include "Cartilage Collagen Neoepitope C2C Expression in the Articular Cartilage and Its Relation to Joint Tissue Damage in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis" (Biomedicines, 2024), "Comparison of Antigen Retrieval Methods for Immunohistochemical Detection of CILP-2, DDR2 and C2C in Human Knee Osteoarthritis Cartilage" (Histology, 2024), "Expression of CILP-2 and DDR2 and ultrastructural changes in the intervertebral discs of patients with lumbar radiculopathy" (Connective Tissue Research, 2022), "Detection of FSH receptors in mouse and human penile tissue" (Journal of Men's Health, 2025), "Expression of LHCG receptor in the human vulva" (The Aging Male, 2025), and "Apoptosis and ultrastructural changes of smooth muscle cells in the internal thoracic artery" (Annals of Anatomy, 2024). He also serves as Junior Research Fellow in Histology (0.5 position) and Specialist (0.5 position) in the Chair of Histology and Embryology.