Keyword: Press release

Professor of Evolutionary Biology Virpi Lummaa from the University of Turku in Finland has received a major funding from the European Research Council ERC. Lummaa received the funding for a research project that focuses on how major societal changes in the past 300 years have influenced human kinship networks and how they, in turn, have influenced the evolutionary fitness of people in the 18th to 20th century Finland. Lummaa also investigates the same questions in Asian elephants, which have suffered from declines in population size during the past 50 years due to human influence.

A Doctoral Researcher Luca Pettinau examined whether the heart performance of fish in fish farms can be enhanced with swimming exercises. Regular swimming exercises with moderate exertion improved the heart performance of the fish, as well as their ability to tolerate higher temperatures. Increasing the strain on adult fish also improved the growth and survival of their offspring.

Human immune cells are capable of coordinating their own movement more independently than previously thought. InFLAMES researcher Jonna Alanko has discovered that immune cells do not just passively follow the chemical cues in their environment. Quite the contrary, they can also shape these cues and navigate in complex environments in a self-organised manner.

The University of Turku is seeking a Rector to lead the operations and work community of a multidisciplinary and international University according to its values and Strategy. The call for applications is open until 25 September 2023.

The University of Turku and one of Europe’s largest private AI labs Silo AI, with its large language model (LLM) arm SiloGen, are today announcing a large-scale initiative on open and trustworthy LLMs. SiloGen launches a consortium together with TurkuNLP research group to develop a family of open LLMs, including the world’s largest open source LLM. The initiative aims to ensure European digital sovereignty and democratise access to LLMs. 

The University of Turku continues its commitment to promoting high-quality doctoral training by opening up a call for applications for approximately fifty fixed-term doctoral researcher positions. The application period for the positions is 28 August – 15 September 2023. The employment contract begins on 1 January 2024 and will last for a maximum of four years. All current doctoral researchers as well as those who are also applying for the study right for doctoral training can apply for the funded positions.

Researchers inoculated oilseed rape plants with a species of fungus that is known for its ability to combat pest insects. Utilising the relationship between beneficial fungi and crop plants may introduce a new era of agriculture where the plant resilience is improved and the ecological footprint of traditional/chemical pesticides is minimised.

This year, the Elias Tillandz Prize was awarded to two outstanding research articles, which involved a mechanism related to the migration of cancer cells and a new analysis of a grave dating back to the early Middle Ages. The Prize was awarded to the researchers at the BioCity symposium on Thursday, 24 August 2023.

Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku is investing increasingly and more systematically in business research building further understanding of the maritime sector’s change dynamics and producing knowledge to support companies' business strategies. From this autumn, Turku School of Economics will strengthen the field through the Maritime@TSE research platform.

The Persian Gold Tarantula (Chaetopelma persianum) is a newly described species recently discovered in northwestern Iran. In fact, the “woolly, golden hairs” the scientists observed and examined on a single specimen, were one of the features so unique that it was not necessary for additional individuals to be collected and physically studied. It was clear enough that it was a species previously unknown to the scientific community.