Noora Kotaja PhD

Noora Kotaja is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Finland. She obtained Ph.D. in Biomedicine at the University of Helsinki under the supervision of Profs. Olli Jänne and Jorma Palvimo. The title of her Ph.D. thesis was "Function of PIAS proteins in steroid receptor-dependent signaling", and it was approved with distinction and awarded with a Ph.D. thesis award from the Finnish Academy of Science.

She did her postdoctoral training at the Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Strasbourg, France, in the research group of Dr. Paolo Sassone-Corsi on germ cell-specific regulation of gene expression. In 2006, she returned back to Finland to establish her own research group at the University of Turku, where she received first an Academy Research Fellow post from the Academy of Finland, followed by a tenure track Professor position in 2012. Her scientific achievements have been recognized by L'Oreal Finland for Women in Science award in 2006, Unto Uotila award from the Finnish Endocrine Society in 2008 and Young Researcher award from the International Network of Young Researchers in Male Fertility in 2011 and Your Andrologist award from the International Society of Andrology in 2013.