Young ISSCD Committee

The Young ISSCD (yISSCD) Committee aims to build a supportive network for early career researchers by fostering collaboration and professional growth through community focused initiatives. By increasing visibility, offering mentorship, and creating interdisciplinary learning opportunities, the yISSCD committee seeks to strengthen the celiac disease research field and hopes to attract new talent which will further advance research.

Please see the Terms of Reference for this committee. If you would like to be considered, please send your CV and a letter of intent via email to info@ISSCD-global.org by 31 January 2025. Your expression of interest will then be forwarded to the co-Chairs for review. 

co-Chair: Olivia Moscatelli

Olivia is an Immunologist and 2nd year PhD student in the Coeliac Research Lab led by Associate Professor Jason Tye-Din at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Her project involves validating a novel diagnostic blood test for celiac disease and understanding the acute immune response to gluten.

 

co-Chair: Joram Mooiweer 

Joram is a PhD researcher in the Immunogenetics group at the University Medical Center Groningen with Dr. Iris Jonkers and Dr. Sebo Withoff. He uses iPSC, organoid, tissue-resident immune cells, and organ-on-chip technologies to create patient-specific celiac disease models, and aims to uncover molecular drivers of intestinal inflammation.

 

Olga Albó - Co-Vice Chair

Olga is a PhD researcher at the Celiac Disease Research Center (CeliRes) at Tampere University, Finland. Her research focuses on the innate immune response in Dermatitis Herpetiformis, the extraintestinal manifestation of celiac disease.

 

 

Mark Wulczynski - Co-Vice Chair

Mark Wulczynski is a PhD researcher in the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute at McMaster University, Canada. His research focuses on the impact of nutrition and microbiome modulation on mucosal recovery and healing using animal models for translation to future human studies.

 

Helka Kaunisto

Helka is a PhD researcher at the Celiac Disease Research Center (CeliRes) in Tampere University, Finland. Her PhD research focuses on the adaptive immune responses in extraintestinal manifestations of celiac disease, using Dermatitis Herpetiformis as the model.

 

 

Amelia Kopacz

Amelia is a 1st year DPhil student in the Translational Gastroenterology and Liver Unit at Oxford University, in the United Kingdom. Her DPhil research focuses on elucidating the role of gammadelta T cells in coeliac disease.

 

Karolina Kunnapuu

Karolina is a 2nd year DPhil student in the Translational Gastroenterology and Liver Unit at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Her research is focused on investigating tissue remodelling in the celiac intestinal mucosa through spatial biology techniques.

 

 

Utkarshini Kirtikar

Utkarshini (UK) is a 3rd year PhD researcher and dietician in the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Canada. She is leading a clinical trial investigating how oral tryptophan supplementation would help in alleviating persistent symptoms in celiac patients who do not fully respond to a gluten-free diet (celiac non-responders).