Veijo completed his MD at the University of Helsinki, where he became fascinated by lipids and organelle biology. He pursued his PhD in Elina Ikonen’s lab, combining lipid biochemistry, advanced cell line engineering, and fluorescence imaging to uncover key mechanisms of lipid droplet formation.
He then joined Julia Mahamid’s group at EMBL Heidelberg for postdoctoral work, developing and applying correlative cryo-electron tomography workflows to study membrane remodeling in situ.
In early 2026, Veijo will establish his independent research groups at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institutet (https://ki.se/en/mbb) and the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/hilife-helsinki-institute-life-science/units/institute-biotechnology). Veijo is fascinated by how lipid flux and membrane dynamics collaborate to shape the organelle architectures that underlie cellular function. His lab will use integrative structural and cell biology approaches to uncover these mechanisms.
In his free time, he enjoys playing laser tag and spending time with his family.