Kaisa Happonen was a NOMIS–Salk Fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, US).

Happonen was born in Finland and obtained her master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Helsinki in 2007. She received her PhD in medical protein chemistry in 2011 at Lund University in Sweden. Her graduate studies focused on investigating how molecules released from the cartilage in rheumatoid arthritis cause inflammation, and how cartilage breakdown itself therefore may be a driving force behind the disease. As a postdoctoral fellow she studied the function of cell surface receptors called TAM receptor tyrosine kinases in endothelial cells, which form the inner lining of blood vessels. She received many research grants and awards, including grants from the Alfred Österlund’s Foundation, the Crafoord Foundation and Greta and Johan Kock’s Foundation, as well as the Young Investigator Award from the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, the Pioneer Fund Postdoctoral Scholar Award and the Sweden-America Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.

As a NOMIS–Salk Fellow, Happonen continued pursuing her interest in the functions of TAM receptors in blood vessels, with a focus on the highly specialized vessels in the brain. She demonstrated that TAM receptors are crucial for brain endothelial cell movement and proliferation, two key features in the formation of new blood vessels, a process also known as angiogenesis. She is currently investigating how TAMs work in different models of angiogenesis in adult tissues in vivo, and how TAM receptors communicate with other angiogenic receptors in the endothelium. A deeper understanding of how angiogenesis is regulated is essential for the development of targeted therapeutics in diseases such as cancer and stroke.