Door 20: PhD defense – Being on the other side

A PhD defense is an important step in the career of a young researcher. However, for the defense itself it needs actually three to tango in Norway – the candidate and the two external opponents. This year, I had after some years again the honor to be one […]

Dør 20: Diputasen – Å være på den andre siden

En doktoravhandling er et viktig skritt i karrieren til en ung forsker. Men for disputasen trengs det faktisk tre til tango i Norge – kandidaten og de to eksterne opponentene. I år hadde jeg etter noen år igjen æren av å være en av de eksterne opponentene til […]

Blanding av genomet eller ikke – Kromosomrekkefølge som en fylogenetisk markør

Etter Stian hadde vi en annen masterstudent, Pia, som konsentrerte seg om et rent bioinformatisk tema i vår gruppe. Hun forsvarte i går sin avhandling med tittelen «Evaluating the Applicability of Macrosynteny as a Phylogenetic Trait Based on an Exploration of Spiralia» (Evaluering av makrosyntenis anvendbarhet som et […]

Mixing the genome or not – Chromosome order as a phylogenetic marker

After Stian, we had another Master student, Pia, who concentrated on a purely bioinformatic topic in our group. She successfully defend here thesis with the title “Evaluating the Applicability of Macrosynteny as a Phylogenetic Trait Based on an Exploration of Spiralia” yesterday. Like Stian, Pia is also moving […]

Den unormale oppførselen til mitokondrielle genomer hos bukhårsdyr

Susanna forsvarte sin masteroppgave med suksess forrige uke. I prosjektet sitt ønsket hun å undersøke utviklingen av mitokondriell genomrekkefølge hos bukhårsdyr (Gastrotricha). Gastrotricha er svært små og flate dyr, som vanligvis ikke er lengre enn 1 mm. Likevel kan de ha svært delikate strukturer på huden i form […]

The unduly behavior of the mitochondrial genomes of hairybellies

Susanna successfully defended her Master thesis last week. In her project, she wanted to address the evolution of the mitochondrial genome order of hairybellies (Gastrotricha). Gastrotricha are very tiny and flat animals, which are usually not longer than 1 mm. Nonetheless, they can have very delicate structures on […]

Årets siste forsvar – med suksess

Denne uken var den siste hele uken før juleferien, hvor alle går på sin velfortjente ferie. Men til tross for at det har vært en rolig uke på museet, var det en stor dag for Nhu Dinh i dag. Hun forsvarte nemlig masteroppgaven sin i dag. Gratulerer Nhu […]

The last defense of the year – successfully

This week was the last full week before the Christmas break where everybody goes on their well deserved holidays. However, despite all the slowing down at the museum this week, today was a big day for Nhu Dinh. She successfully defended her Master thesis today. Congratulations Nhu Dinh. […]

CEG with an even stronger commitment to Norwegian Biosystematics

After an already strong commitment to Norwegian Biodiversity Genomics earlier this year, CEG showed an even stronger commitment to Norwegian Biosystematics at the first ever “Norsk symposium i biosystematikk” organized by Artsdatankena and the Natural History Museum last week in Oslo. With 10 out of 49 contributed talks […]

CEG med enda sterkere satsing på norsk biosystematikk

Etter et allerede sterkt engasjement for norsk biodiversitetsgenomikk tidligere i år, viste CEG et enda sterkere engasjement for norsk biosystematikk på tidenes første «Norsk symposium i biosystematikk» som ble arrangert av Artsdatankena og Naturhistorisk Museum i Oslo forrige uke. Med 10 av 49 foredrag og “flash talks” bidro […]

The 2024 Master, PhD and PostDoc Days at the Natural History Museum Oslo

In their daily work early career students and scientists are usually very busy with generating and interpreting data for their scientific projects. But it is equally important to discuss results and methods. While scientific conferences offer such opportunities in official settings, the annual Master, PhD and PostDoc Days […]

Artificial or not – does it matter for beaches

In the last month, Sunniva Løviknes and Jan Einar Amundsen successfully defended their Master theses they had conducted the last two years in our group. Congratulations to this very interesting project. Both worked on very similar topics. Around the world the number of artificial beaches and even islands […]

Kunstig eller ikke – spiller det noen rolle for strendene

Den siste måneden har Sunniva Løviknes og Jan Einar Amundsen disputert for sine masteroppgaver som de har gjennomført de siste to årene i vår gruppe. Vi gratulerer med dette svært interessante prosjektet. Begge arbeidet med svært like temaer. Rundt om i verden øker antallet kunstige strender og til […]

25 years of PhD training at the NHM Oslo

By August 2024 the Natural History Museum (NHM) at the University of Oslo turned 25 years. Not that the entire institutions is that young, but in 1999 the NHM was formally created by the merger of the earlier Botanical, Zoological, Geological and Paleontological museums as well as the […]

Possible Masters project in the CEG research group

Tuesday 13. September the Natural History Museum invited the new Master students in Biology at the University of Oslo to a presentation of potential Masers projects. CEG was represented by Lutz Bachmann who intorduced the opportunities within the CEG research group. It was great to see that very […]

Tre-for-en-samletur til Sylt

Denne våren dro noen av oss i CEG-gruppen på ekskursjon til øya Sylt, som ligger ved Nordsjøkysten i Tyskland, like ved grensen til Danmark (Figur 1). Biologisk forskning har lange tradisjoner i dette området og Sylt er en av de få «hotspottene» i verden innen meiofaunaforskning. Heldigvis ligger […]

Three-in-one sampling trip to Sylt

This spring some of us at the CEG group went on a field trip to the island of Sylt, located on the North Sea coast of Germany, very close to the border with Denmark (Figure 1). Biological research has a long tradition in this area, and Sylt in […]

First ArtsDatabanken project successfully finished – now the work begins

The first ArtsDatabanken of our group member Torsten Struck finished successfully this month. The project was “Biodiversity in the marine algae belt” together with collaborators from the University of Skøvde (Sweden), University of Gothenborg (Sweden), Humboldt-University Berlin (Germany) and University of Bonn (Germany). The project started four years […]

Det første ArtsDatabanken-prosjektet er vellykket avsluttet – nå begynner arbeidet

Det første ArtsDatabanken-prosjektet til vårt gruppemedlem Torsten Struck ble avsluttet med suksess denne måneden. Prosjektet var «Biodiversitet i det marine algebeltet» sammen med samarbeidspartnere fra Universitetet i Skøvde (Sverige), Universitetet i Gøteborg (Sverige), Humboldt-universitetet i Berlin (Tyskland) og Universitetet i Bonn (Tyskland). Prosjektet startet for fire år siden, […]

Door 13: The diversity of tasks for a PhD-student at NHM

Today is the 13th of December, as today I have chosen a different aspect of “diversity” namely the diversity of tasks a PhD-student at the Natural History museum can and have to do. Being a PhD-student involves a rollercoaster of emotions and a very diverse, flexible, demanding and […]

The hidden invasion along the Norwegian coast

Last week Line Willersrud, a Master student in our group, successfully defended her Master thesis “Assessing genetic biodiversity in Caprellidae”. She worked very hard for her thesis by collecting caprellid species along the Norwegian coast as part of the Artsdatabanken project “Assessing biodiversity in the marine algae belt“, […]

Teaching about sea squirts, worms and skeleton shrimps in Drøbak

As part of the ArtsDatabanken project “Assessing biodiversity in the marine algae belt“, we taught a class of eager students and consultants about the species of our project. The course did not only comprise theoretical lectures, but really hands-on experience. We went out to different spots in Drøbak […]

Internships – an exciting opportunity for a hands-on way into science

The curriculum of academic studies is usually brimming with lectures, seminars and courses that aim at an efficient transfer of detailed knowledge. This is particularly true at the Bachelor level in Biology, that aims to provide a broad overview of many different disciplines in the field as the […]

Staphylinid beetles, 24 new genetic markers and new insights into their taxonomy – Jørgen’s defence

Yesterday, Jørgen Hansen Starholm defended his Master thesis “Solving phylogenetic relationships within the Rove beetle genus Aleochara (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) by utilizing a novel approach based on High Throughput Sequencing” successfully. The purpose of the thesis was to infer a phylogeny of Aleochara based on more nuclear markers and […]

How to spend summer in Norway: fieldwork on the west coast

Summer is here, so it’s time for the Artsdatabanken project team to go back to the field. Or to the sea, in our case. After driving 500km from the east to the west coast, through beautiful mountains and majestic fjords, we arrived at Austevoll (Figure 1), an archipelago […]