Members’ Labs

Taija Mäkinen, PhD

Professor
Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology
Uppsala University and Wihuri Research Institute/University of Helsinki

Primary Research:

Our research focuses on the fundamental mechanisms that govern the development, maintenance, and regeneration of a functional lymphatic vasculature. We also investigate the involvement of lymphatic vessels in organ-specific physiology and disease processes. Currently located at Uppsala University in Sweden, the lab is relocating to Finland to join the vascular biology community at the Wihuri Research Institute and the University of Helsinki in 2024-2025.

Laboratory web site URL:

www.makinenlab.com

Members of the Laboratory

Recent Publications

Petkova M, Ferby I, Mäkinen T. Lymphatic malformations: mechanistic insights and evolving therapeutic frontiers. J Clin Invest 134(6):e172844. doi: 10.1172/JCI172844 (2024).
Petkova M, Kraft M, Stritt S, Martinez-Corral I, Ortsäter H, Vanlandewijck M, Jakic B, Baselga E, Castillo SD, Graupera M, Betsholtz C, Mäkinen T. Immune-interacting lymphatic endothelial subtype at capillary terminals drives lymphatic malformation. J Exp Med Apr 3;220(4):e20220741. doi: 10.1084/jem.20220741 (2023).
Hernández Vásquez MN, Ulvmar MH, González-Loyola A, Kritikos I, Sun Y, He L, Halin C, Petrova TV, Mäkinen T. Transcription factor FOXP2 is a flow-induced regulator of collecting lymphatic vessels. EMBO J 40(12):e107192. doi: 10.15252/embj.2020107192 (2021).
Martinez-Corral I, Zhang Y, Petkova M, Ortsäter H, Sjöberg S, Diez SC, Brouillard P, Libbrecht L, Graupera M, Alitalo K, Boon L, Vikkula M, Mäkinen T. Blockade of VEGF-C signaling inhibits lymphatic malformations driven by oncogenic PIK3CA mutation. Nat Commun 11:2869 doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16496-y (2020).
Frye M, Stritt S, Ortsäter H, Hernandez-Vasquez M, Kaakinen M, Vicente A, Wiseman J, Eklund L, Martinez-Torrecuadrada JL, Vestweber D, Mäkinen T. EphinB2-EPHB4 signalling provides Rho-mediated homeostatic control of lymphatic endothelial cell junction integrity. eLife 9:e57732 (2020).
Zhang Y, Ulvmar MH, Stanczuk L, Martinez-Corral I, Frye M, Alitalo, K, Mäkinen T. Heterogeneity in VEGFR3 levels drives lymphatic vessel hyperplasia through cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous mechanisms. Nat Commun 9:1296. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03692-0 (2018).
Frye M, Taddei A, Dierkes C, Martinez-Corral I, Fielden M, Ortsäter H, Kazenwadel J, Calado DP, Ostergaard P, Salminen M, He L, Harvey N, Kiefer F, Mäkinen T. Matrix stiffness controls lymphatic vessel formation through regulation of a GATA2-dependent transcriptional program. Nat Commun, 9:1511 doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03959-6 (2018).