2009

23.12. Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to everyone

18.12 Anti Vasemägi's project with Megha Dash as a graduate student was chosen as
a Biological Interactions graduate school project. Also Thomas Lilley, who joined
the CoE got a graduate student position

27.11. Veronika Laine and Lotta Leveelahti got graduate student money from Biological
Interactions graduate school

17.11. Anna Kuparinen and Juha-Pekka Vähä got postdoc grants from
the Academy of Finland, and Craig Primmer got grant from
the Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics directed search.
Jacquelin DeFaveri got a graduate school position. Congratulations

10.11. The Population Genetics graduate school decided yesterday on funded
Ph.D. positions. Heidi Viitaniemi and Bineet Panda were chosen.
Congratulations!

7.11. Akarapong Swatdipong will defend his Ph. D. thesis on November 27.
The science TV program Prisma will feature Heli Routti's seal thesis
on Tuesday, November 10.

18.10. Heli Routti will defend her Ph.D thesis on November 6.

18.8. Biological Interactions-graduate school invites student and
prospective project applications by September 15. Closer details
from Thomas Lilley (thomas.lilley@utu.fi)

18.8. The Scientific Advisory Board (and general CoE) meeting is in Turku
on August 31-September 1.

14.6. Craig Primmer and his work featured prominently in Saturday's
Hufvudstadsbladet

22.5 CoE scientist are prominently visible in the Finnish Academy of Science:
Craig Primmer got elected, and Juha Merilä is the chair and Mikko Nikinmaa
the secretary of the biology section (with about 30 members).

3.3. The Biological Interactions -graduate school which has CoE as an
important foundation got 11 Ph.D. student positions and a coordinator
starting from the beginning of 2010

3.2. The following Scientific Advisory Board meeting will most likely be Monday
31.8.-Tuesday 1.9.

27.1. The centres of excellence related to evolution (Jyväskylä, Helsinki,
Turku) will have a common Darwin symposium in Jyväskylä and
Konnevesi in March 25-28.

9.1. Happy New Year! Tieteen Päivät was devoted to evolution this year.
Appropriately Craig Primmer was giving a talk there today

2008

10.12. Theresa Knopp defends her PhD-thesis 12.12.2008.

1.10. The centre's researchers had good success in the Academy of Finland
postdoctoral fellow competition. Gábor Herczeg and Kristiina Vuori both
got grants.

10.9. EGRUs stickleback work was featured as Molecular Ecology News and
Views Perspective: Molecular Ecology (2008) 17, 3425–3427
Selection and sticklebacks

3.9. A physiology course will be held in Turku in December 14-20. Teachers
include Frank Bo Jensen (Odense), Michael Berenbrink (Liverpool) and
Hans-Otto Pörtner (Bremerhaven). Detailed information at the website
//madfish.lif.hi.is.

3.9. The rainy summer is gone and seems to be followed by rainy autumn

17.6. Science pages of Helsingin Sanomat had EGRU's Barrow's goldeneye
research as a main topic

12.6. 221 730 euros to EGRU from Finnish Academy and Indian DBT for a project
focusing on conservation genetics of Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot frogs

3.6. The science pages of Helsingin Sanomat had EGRUs ninespine
stickleback work as the main topic

1.6. These web pages are visited by readers from approximately ten
different countries per week

9.5 The Finnzymes company's journal had an item on EGRUs Siberian
jay work (and Marika Karjalainen) using their PCR systems. Suomen
Luonto discussed Teno salmon, and there naturally used Juha-Pekka
Vähä's thesis as primary information channel.

4.4. The just published Suomen Luonto had an item on Anni Tonteri's
thesis

3.4. The evaluation of Aquatic Science, carried out on behalf of Academy of
Finland, made highly positive comments of CoEs research. The
evaluation report can be accessed at http://www.aka.fi/Tiedostot/
Julkaisut/2_08%20Water%20Research.pdf

10.03. For anyone interested, the Finnish Academy of Science is becoming 100.
Connected with this on April 16 there will be a symposium
on The Changing Face of Finland's Nature (Muuttuva Suomen Luonto).
The symposium is in Finnish and can be followed live (starting at 10) on
//www.acadsci.fi/100v/prog.php

01.03. An ecological genomics course will be held in Turku in May 7-11. Detailed
information at the website //madfish.lif.hi.is.

01.03. Anni Tonteri (Turku) defended her thesis Phylogeography and population
genetics of north European Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

26.01. The next CoE seminar will be combined with the Scientific Advisory Board
meeting. It will be held in Parainen Fisheries School on June 5th and 6th.

2007

17.12. MEERU's Joint Finnish Academy application for Biotieteiden tutkimus
Venäjän perustutkimusrahaston kanssa is funded. Project title: Modeling
evolutionary processes of the salmon-Gyrodactylus system in Karelia:
integrating molecular bioinformatics and evolutionary genetics with
traditional approaches in parasitology and paleogeography

04.12. Tapio Eeva, an academy research fellow, has joined the CoE.
His work is on environmental effects on birds

30.9. There is some new outlook in the webpages
- the publications page is renewed.

Laura Buggiotti (Turku) defended her thesis Avian evolutionary genomics: studies of Fidecula flycacthers on December 8.

Juha-Pekka Vähä (Turku) defended his thesis Conservation Genetics of Teno River Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)-Genetic Structure in Space and Time, and the Effects of Escaped Farmed Salmon on November 24.

Kristiina Vuori (Turku) defended her thesis The Molecular Basis of Baltic Salmon (Salmo salar) Yolk-Sac Fry Mortality Syndrome -M74 on November 23.

The Centre of Excellence general meeting was held in Tvärminne on October 24-26.

Hannu Mäkinen (Helsinki) defended his thesis Genetic studies on population history and adaptive divergence in European populations of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) on October 5.

27.11. In the Biological Interactions -graduate school autumn seminar there is a
session on Bioethics (December 18 12-14; in Finnish) with Chancellor
Eero Vuorio, Professors Veikko Launis and Petter Portin and Docent Irma
Saloniemi.

27.11. The two Ph.D. thesis defenses from CoE on 23. and 24.11. got significant
media attention. Kristiina Vuori's work was written about in two newspaper
articles (Maaseudun Tulevaisuus and Satakunnan Kansa) and
Juha-Pekka Vähä's work was a radio news item.

13.11. EGRU post-doc Anna Kuparinen has received a University post-doc
position (University of Helsinki).

2.11. MEERU's NordForsk application for Joint Nordic Use of Research
Infrastructure is fully funded. Project title: Joint use of high-throughput SNP
assay infrastructure in Atlantic salmon

12.10. Celine Teplitsky has gotten a permanent CNRS position at the Natural
History Museum in Paris. She will continue to collaborate closely with
CoE despite of her move, which will take place 1 Jan 2008.

3.10. Two CoE associated post-docs, Sonja Jaari and Phillip Gienapp
have received personal post-doctoral grants from the Academy of Finland.