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Merja Penttilä

Merja Penttilä

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Biology and Biochemistry
Finland
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Biology and Biochemistry

D-Index
100
Citations
31627
World Ranking
1546
National Ranking
6

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in Finland Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in Finland Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in Finland Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in Finland Leader Award

Overview

Merja Penttilä is affiliated with Aalto University in Finland and specializes in biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, with a focus on molecular biology, biomedical engineering, biomaterials, biotechnology, and materials chemistry. Their research primarily explores topics related to biofuel production and bioconversion, microbial metabolic engineering and bioproduction, enzyme production and characterization, viral infectious diseases and gene expression in insects, fungal and yeast genetics research, biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties, and advanced cellulose research studies.

They have published extensively in several scientific journals, with frequent contributions to venues such as Advanced Materials, Microbial Cell Factories, Biomacromolecules, Nanoscale, and ACS Synthetic Biology.

  • Bioinspired Functionally Graded Composite Assembled Using Cellulose Nanocrystals and Genetically Engineered Proteins with Controlled Biomineralization, 2021, Advanced Materials
  • The complex structure of Fomes fomentarius represents an architectural design for high-performance ultralightweight materials, 2023, Science Advances
  • Bioprocess performance analysis of novel methanol-independent promoters for recombinant protein production with Pichia pastoris, 2021, Microbial Cell Factories
  • Substrate specificity of 2-deoxy-D-ribose 5-phosphate aldolase (DERA) assessed by different protein engineering and machine learning methods, 2020, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • Strain design optimization using reinforcement learning, 2022, PLoS Computational Biology

Merja Penttilä collaborates frequently with researchers including Pezhman Mohammadi, Robert Pylkkänen, Paula Jouhten, Mervi Toivari, and Hannu Maaheimo, with multiple joint publications reflecting ongoing scientific partnerships.

  • Pezhman Mohammadi
  • Robert Pylkkänen
  • Paula Jouhten
  • Mervi Toivari
  • Hannu Maaheimo

Their research contributions span key areas such as enzyme production and functional characterization, development and optimization of microbial strains for bioproduction, and applications of biomaterials inspired by natural architectures. This work includes investigation into advanced cellulose composites and exploration of novel promoters for recombinant protein production.

Best Publications

  • A versatile transformation system for the cellulolytic filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei

    Merja Penttilä;Helena Nevalainen;Marjaana Rättö;Elina Salminen

  • Hydrophobins: the protein-amphiphiles of filamentous fungi.

    Markus B. Linder;Géza R. Szilvay;Géza R. Szilvay;Tiina Nakari-Setälä;Merja E. Penttilä

  • Transcriptional regulation of plant cell wall degradation by filamentous fungi

    Nina Aro;Tiina Pakula;Merja Penttilä

  • A consensus yeast metabolic network reconstruction obtained from a community approach to systems biology

    Markus Herrgard;Neil Swainston;Paul Dobson;Warwick B. Dunn

  • Metabolic engineering applications to renewable resource utilization.

    Aristos Aristidou;Merja Penttilä

  • Regulation of cellulase gene expression in the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei.

    M Ilmén;A Saloheimo;M L Onnela;M E Penttilä

  • Traffic Jams Reduce Hydrolytic Efficiency of Cellulase on Cellulose Surface

    Kiyohiko Igarashi;Takayuki Uchihashi;Anu Koivula;Masahisa Wada;Masahisa Wada

  • Swollenin, a Trichoderma reesei protein with sequence similarity to the plant expansins, exhibits disruption activity on cellulosic materials

    Markku Saloheimo;Marja Paloheimo;Satu Hakola;Jaakko Pere

  • EGIII, a new endoglucanase from Trichoderma reesei: the characterization of both gene and enzyme

    M. Saloheimo;P. Lehtovaara;M. Penttilä;T.T. Teeri

  • Homology between cellulase genes of Trichoderma reesei: complete nucleotide sequence of the endoglucanase I gene

    Merja Penttilä;Päivi Lehtovaara;Helena Nevalainen;Ramagauri Bhikhabhai

  • ACEII, a novel transcriptional activator involved in regulation of cellulase and xylanase genes of Trichoderma reesei.

    Nina Aro;Anu Saloheimo;Marja Ilmén;Merja Penttilä

  • The glucose repressor gene cre1 of Trichoderma: isolation and expression of a full-length and a truncated mutant form.

    Marja Ilmén;Charlotte Thrane;Merja Penttilä

  • Xylose-metabolizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains overexpressing the TKL1 and TAL1 genes encoding the pentose phosphate pathway enzymes transketolase and transaldolase

    M Walfridsson;J Hallborn;M Penttilä;S Keränen

  • High Speed Atomic Force Microscopy Visualizes Processive Movement of Trichoderma reesei Cellobiohydrolase I on Crystalline Cellulose

    Kiyohiko Igarashi;Anu Koivula;Masahisa Wada;Satoshi Kimura

  • ACEI of Trichoderma reesei is a repressor of cellulase and xylanase expression

    Nina Aro;Marja Ilmén;Anu Saloheimo;Merja Penttilä

  • Xylitol production by recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

    Johan Hallborn;Mats Walfridsson;Ulla Airaksinen;Heikki Ojamo

  • Efficient secretion of two fungal cellobiohydrolases by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

    Merja E. Penttilä;Lars André;Päivi Lehtovaara;Michael Bailey

  • cDNA Cloning of a Trichoderma reesei Cellulase and Demonstration of Endoglucanase Activity by Expression in Yeast

    Markku Saloheimo;Tiina Nakari‐SetäLä;Maija Tenkanen;Merja Penttilä

  • Conversion of xylose to ethanol by recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae: importance of xylulokinase (XKS1) and oxygen availability.

    Mervi H. Toivari;Aristos Aristidou;Laura Ruohonen;Merja Penttilä

  • A novel, small endoglucanase gene, egl5, from Trichoderma reesei isolated by expression in yeast.

    Anu Saloheimo;Bernard Henrissat;Anna‐Marja ‐M Hoffrén;Olle Teleman

Frequent Co-Authors

Markku Saloheimo
Markku Saloheimo VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Maija Tenkanen
Maija Tenkanen University of Helsinki
Markus Linder
Markus Linder Aalto University
Matti Siika-aho
Matti Siika-aho VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Lucília Domingues
Lucília Domingues University of Minho
Roland Contreras
Roland Contreras Ghent University
Nisse Kalkkinen
Nisse Kalkkinen University of Helsinki
Bärbel Hahn-Hägerdal
Bärbel Hahn-Hägerdal Lund University
Kiyohiko Igarashi
Kiyohiko Igarashi University of Tokyo
Juha Rouvinen
Juha Rouvinen University of Eastern Finland

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