News of the
FRONTIERS IN EVOLUTIONARY ZOOLOGY
a research group at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Norway
31. December 2023 - The FEZ group will change name
The FEZ group will change name to better reflect the group's scientific activities. The new name will be 'Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics (CEG)'.
24. December 2023 - Final door of the FEZ advent calendar opened
The final door of the FEZ advent calendar 2023 opened to day. You can review the entire advent calendar in our blog.
!! We wish you all a Happy Holidays !!
13. December 2023 - The FEZ group Christmas party
Today, the FEZ group will have an internal Christmas Party.
04. December 2023 - The NHM MSc, PhD and Postdoc Days 2023
The MSc, PhD and Postdoc Days 2023 of the Natural History Museum Oslo are on with a substantial contribution of the FEZ group.
01. December 2023 - The FEZ advent calendar has started
FEZ runs for the third time an advent calendar with every day opening a new window into our research interests and activities.
27. November 2023 - Mael Grosse participates in Systematikdagarna, Lund, Sweden
Mael Grosse participates in the Systematikdagarna conference in Lund, Sweden, and presents his results on 'Studying the Diversity of Norwegian Cirratulidae (Annelida) using Museum Collections'.
22. November 2023 - Molecular Evolution class started
The Master course Molecular Evolution (BIOS5114) with Lutz Bachmann and Marianne Nilsen Haugen teaching has started.
20. November 2023 - Paper on Comparative krill population genomics published
Marvin Choquet and coworkers got the paper entitled "Comparative Population Transcriptomics Provide New Insight into the Evolutionary History and Adaptive Potential of World Ocean Krill" published in Molecular Biology and Evolution.
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/40/11/msad225/7304255?searchresult=1#425437421
31. October 2023 - Paper on Calanus copepods published
Marvin Choquet got his paper entitled "Unmasking microsatellite deceptiveness and debunking hybridization with SNPs in four marine copepod species of Calanus" published in Molecular Ecology.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.17183
18. October 2023 - Scientific visit to University of Berkeley
This week James Fleming and Torsten struck visit the lab of John Huelsenbeck at the University of Berkeley to finish their Peder Sather grant on a new methodology to assess the confidence among competing hypotheses.
13. October 2023 - Master exam Line Willersrud
Line Willersrud passed her Master exam with Anne Helene Solberg Tandberg (external) and Quentin Mauvisseaut (internal) as sensors. The title of her thesis was 'Assessing genetic diversity in Caprellidae'.
!!! Congratulations Line !!!
12. October 2023 - paper now available open access
The article entitled 'The role of systematics for understanding ecosystem functions: Proceedings of the Zoologica Scripta Symposium, Oslo, Norway, 25 August 2022' by Bachmann et al. published in the Zoologica Scripta earlier this year is now available open access.
01. October 2023 - scientific visit
Mael Grosse visits the Blanes Center for Advanced Studies (CEAB) in Spain for further sampling and taxonomic work.
19. September 2023 - new blog post
Marianne Nilsen Haugen published a new blog post on the recent FEZ group retreat.
https://blog.annelida.de/2023/09/19/fez-group-retreat-september-2023/
19. September 2023 - Annual ForBio Meeting
Mael Grosse attends the 2023 Annual ForBio Meeting in Bergen. Details about the conference and the program can be found at:
https://www.forbio.uio.no/events/meeting/2023/ForBio%20Annual%20Meeting%202023
08. September 2023 - PhD position open
Today the call for a PhD position on "Population genomics of North Atlantic hooded seals (Cystophora cristata)" in the FEZ group has been published. Find details on how to apply at:
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/249862/phd-research-fellow-in-biology
07. September 2023 - Paper published in Scientific Reports
Marvin Choquet co-authored the paper entitled 'Molecular tools prove little auks from Svalbard are extremely selective for Calanus glacialis even when exposed to Atlantification'published in Scientific Reports 13: 13647 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-40131-7
04. September 2023 - FEZ group retreat
The FEZ group is off for a two-days retreat to Kristiansand. Looking forward to exploring the city, attractions and the surrpundiings. First stop will the guided tour at the Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden, University of Agder. Also a great opportunity to catch up with a previous collleague Raul Ramirez.
01. September 2023 - FEZ group retreat
MSCA Postdoctoral Researcher Anna Lotta Hillos joined the FEZ group. She will work on her project PolyPro3, that focuses on resolving a tripartite symbiosis between polychaete worms, their gregarine symbionts and microsporidians infecting the gregarines. Welcome Annis !!!!
11. August 2023 - Systematic Biology paper on annelid mitogenome evolution published
The paper entitled 'Mitochondrial Genome Evolution in Annelida—A Systematic Study on Conservative and Variable Gene Orders and the Factors Influencing its Evolution' by Torsten H. Struck, Anja Golombek, Christoph Hoesel, Dimitar Dimitrov and Asmaa Haris Elgetany has been published in Systematic Biology.
The paper is published open access. Congratulations !!!
https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syad023
08. August 2023 - F1000 paper (first version) out
Version 1 of the paper entitled 'Scoutknife: A naïve, whole genome informed phylogenetic robusticity metric' by James F. Fleming, Pia M. Eriksen & Torsten H. Struck has been released by F1000 Research. Congratulations !!! https://f1000research.com/articles/12-945
02. August 2023 - The journal club is back
Welcome back after the summer break. The journal club resumes with Michael Matschinger presenting a paper on 'The Phoenix Hypothesis of Speciation'.
26. June 2023 - 14th International Polychaete Conference (IPC)
Torsten will present at the 14th International Polychaete Conference (IPC) to be held 3-7 July 2023 in Stellenbosch, South Africa, the paper by Stian Aleksander Helsem, Dimitar Dimitrov, Kenneth M. Halanych & Torsten H. Struck entitled 'Dating the annelid tree of life'. The presentation is based on Stian's Master thesis.
21. June 2023 - Shared journal club with the SERG group
In this journal club meeting we will discuss the 2023 PNAS paper entitled 'Farmland practices are driving bird population decline across Europe' by Rigal et al. Beccy Cramer from the SERG group will present the paper.
18. June 2023 - List of first phase ERGA members published
FEZ members Torsten Struck and Thomas Marcussen are actively involved in European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA). Alberto Valero-Gracia and Lutz Bachmann are also members. The inaugural dataset listing all ERGA members from the first Phase is now available online at https://zenodo.org/record/8042449. It can be cited using doi:10.5281/zenodo.8042449
13. June 2023 - Mitogenome paper published in ZooKeys
The paper entitled 'Complete mitochondrial genome of the Galápagos sea lion, Zalophus wollebaeki (Carnivora, Otariidae): paratype specimen confirms separate species status' by Rita M. Austin, Pia M. Eriksen and Lutz Bachmann has been published in ZooKeys. Great to see this collection-based work published.
For Pia who just finished her Bachelor it is her first scientific paper. Congratulations !!!
06. June 2023 - Fieldwork in Japan
Marvin Choquet has been selected to participate in a workshop offered by the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience (University of Florida) in St. Augustine, Florida. This is a 2 day-workshop focusing on: Detecting adaptive evolutionary events in genomes of polar species, and funded by the US National Science Foundation. It will be held on July 24 & 25.
Congrats Marvin !!!
22. May 2023 - Fieldwork in Japan
Marianne Nilsen Haugen and James Fleming left for fieldwork in Japan. They will collect further material of the intertidal beetle genus Aegialites for the PhD thesis of Marianne. Good Luck !!!
15. May 2023 - Two Master students started their fieldwork
Sunniva Løviknes and Jan Einar Amundsen started the fieldwork for their Mastertheses. They comprehensively screen the invertebrate biodiversity at selected beaches in the inner Oslofjord. Lykke til og God Fangst !!!
08. May 2023 - Rita left the FEZ group
PostDoc Rita Austin f-returned to the US. She accepted a new job starting at the beginning of June. Very sad news for the group but a great opportunity for Rita. We wish you all the best, and have a fantastic start with the new job.
05. May 2023 - FEZ spring activity
Friday 5. May 2023 the FEZ group will take a spring activity. We will 'climb' the Grefsenkollen and enjoy a social evening and dinner. Special thanks to Ana Capucho and Rita Austin for organizing the event !!!
04. May 2023 - 'Museomics' manuscript accepted for publication
TThe paper entitled "Galápagos sea lion, Zalophus wollebaeki (Carnivora, Otariidae) paratype specimen confirms separate species status" has been accepted por publication in ZooKeys. Congratulations to Rita, Pia, and Lutz, and in particular to Pia
to her first scientific paper !!!
14. April 2023 - UiO:LifeScience summer project will start soon
Stephanie Milne will start her UiO:Life Science summer project on 1. June 2023. She will work on the project 'Hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) of East Greenland' with Pia Merete Eriksen and Lutz Bachmann as project leaders. Welcome Stephanie !!!
04. April 2023 - Interview with James Fleming
The titan.uio.no web newsletter that posts news in natural sciences and technology published an interview with James Fleming on his research on tardigrades. The nicely illustrated presentation entitled 'Dyret som gjenoppstår fra de døde – helt naturlig' is in Norwegian, and the Interview was conducted by Elina Melteig.
27. March 2023 - Grant application delivered to the Research Foundation Flanders (fwo)
The project entitled "Mobile Genetic Elements as Drivers of Speciation and Adaptive Genome Evolution in Parasitic Flatworms (TE-AGE)" proposes a cooperation between Maarten Vanhove, Nikol Kmentova and Dirk Valkenborg (UHasselt Belgium) and Lutz Bachmann and Einar Strømnes (NHM Oslo)
21. March 2023 - Congratulations to Jørgen Hansen Starholm
He successfully defended his Master thesis entitled "Solving Phylogenetic Relationships Within the Rove Beetle Genus /Aleochara/ (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) by Utilizing a Novel Approach based on High Throughput Sequencing"
stay updated on the FEZ journal club programme
