News

UiO:Life Science shall recruit, educate and develop talents. Before Christmas the initiative announced that students could apply for summer research projects. The board has decided that as many as 66 students will be offered a project in 2018.

The CEED grandfather Kevin Charles Anthony Burke passed away on March 21, 2018. Kevin was one of the giants in geology and tectonics and his original and thought-provoking contributions were published steadily for more than six decades. Kevin was recognized with many honors, including the 2007 Geological Society of America's Penrose Medal and the 2014 European Geosciences Union Arthur Holmes medal, the highest Awards from both Societies.

The 9^th of March the Research Council of Norway issued the last updated message about the awarded projects in the ENERGIX programme where SMN is participating in 2 out of 4 awarded projects in the category «New concepts – ground-breaking new ideas or methods in energy research».

Are you interested in a PhD or Postdoc position within geosciences at University of Oslo? Department of Geosciences is recruiting in thirteen (up to 15) positions just now! Find more information about the vacancies on our webpages.

From the 1^st of March this year SMN has had a new leader.

Thanks to all who attended Oslo Life Science – Investing in health and environment – 12–15 February 2018. See pictures and watch videos from the events. We hope to see all of you again at Oslo Life Science 2019. 

Benedikte Evensen is starting as Centre Coordinator for RoCS from the 1st of February 2018.

Elina Melteig started working for the Department of Chemistry, SMN and the Hylleraas Centre for Quantum Molecular Sciences the 12th of February. 

The SolarALMA project is featured in an article in EUs research and innovation magazine Horizon.

The Earth is cooling. It is losing heat that is/was formed by the radioactive decay of isotopes, as well as from the heat that was formed during planetary accretion. Heat flow thus underpins all aspects of Earth’s evolution and processes including mantle convection and plate tectonics. Heat flow measurements are useful in that they provide a snapshot into the thermal state at a given location. Steady state surface heat flow (whether that be from the seafloor or on land) varies around the world, and depends on a number of factors including the tectonic setting.

The End-Triassic extinction is one of the largest mass extinctions in the history of Earth. It has been hypothesized that greenhouse gases released from volcanic activity of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) triggered the extinction. New models in a recent study demonstrate that large-scale gas generation followed the sill emplacement of CAMP in sedimentary basins in northern Brazil.

Six new teams have been admitted to UiO´s innovation programme SPARK Norway. They will develop their ideas within health-related life sciences for the benefit of patients and society.

Hva kan fysikere bidra med i hjerneforskning? Ph.D student Milad H. Mobarhan gir elever fra den videregående skole et innblikk i dette i sitt glimrende foredrag under universitetets åpen dag. Se forelesningen her.

We're excited to find our paper on perineuronal nets and longterm memories picked by the editors in PNAS to be highlighted in this issue. They have written an excellent recap of our paper.

The new study "Human ectoparasites and the spread of plague in Europe during the Second Pandemic" by Katharine R. Dean et al. (PNAS, 2018) receives international as well as national attention with its "provocative" findings. Find links to the articles here!

Society for Neuroscience journals (JNeurosci and eNeuro) published more than 1,150 research manuscripts in 2017. Among the top 10 articles saved to Mendeley is our paper on perineuronal nets in hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and visual cortex.

The Trias North Project has staged several field trips to Svalbard. Last year we invited our industrial partners to join us on a excursion. This has resulted in a great movie from one of the participating partners and his field impressions from the field trip to Svalbard in the summer of 2016. The film is ca 30 minutes long and is put togethere by Leif Bjørnar Henriksen from Statoil. The film is available at Youtube.

Neurons’ sugar coating is essential for long-term memories

How the brain is able to store memories over long periods of time has been a persistent mystery to neuroscientists. In a new study, researchers from the Centre for Integrative Neuroplasticity (CINPLA) at the University of Oslo show that long-lived extracellular matrix molecules called perineuronal nets are essential for distant memories.

The new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that removal of the nets disrupts distant but not recent memories. 

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/12/21/1713530115

The new innovation programme SPARK Norway at UiO has admitted the first research groups – so called SPARKees. They will develop their ideas within health-related life sciences further for the benefit of patients and society. 

The biggest thing that happened in UiO:Life Science in 2017 was of course the announcement of the start-up grant for the life science building on the national budget for 2018! Read about this and other things that has happened in the initiative so far in 2017.

The Norwegian Research Council has approved the research application of the Nansen Legacy. After six years of planning, the Nansen Legacy is now ready to take Arctic marine research a long way further in understanding how climate and ecosystems interact in the northern Barents Sea.

Indonesia, May 2006 - Several mud eruptions started in the North East of Java Island. Villages were burried and people were forced to flee. The most active eruption called Lusi is still active and scientist now link this to a nearby volcanic system.

Students in Innovation and Entrepreneurship have officially launched their Streets of Oslo brand, with their first product Ryggsekk Orginal.

The University of Oslo will commence using the new learning management system Canvas in the autumn semester of 2018. Canvas is an advanced system that will give us new possibilities in course development, teaching and student contact.

SPARK Norway is a two-year innovation programme to further develop ideas within health-related life sciences for the benefit of patients and society. Researchers from UiO and affiliated research groups at OUS or Ahus can apply UiO:Life Science to be included in the programme.