Keijo Viiri

Our Intestinal Signalling and Epigenetics research group in Health Dimensions focuses on uncovering how immunometabolic, chromatin-level and cytoskeletal mechanisms regulate epithelial and endocrine cell function. I study two diseases—celiac disease and diabetes—to understand how inflammation, metabolism and Golgi–actin remodelling shape pathogenic intestinal damage and pancreatic hormone secretion. I want to understand why epithelial cells lose their identity in celiac disease and why endocrine cells lose their secretory capacity in diabetes. By dissecting how immune activation, metabolic stress and organelle-level actin dynamics disrupt these programs, I aim to identify mechanisms that can be targeted to restore healthy tissue function.