Academic interests
I am an early career scientist interested in the evolution of deep eukaryote lineages and have therefore developed extensive skills in culturing, sequencing, phylogenetics and bioinformatics.
Education
- 2013 PhD: Microbial Evolution. Disputation date: 08.03.2013. Department of Biology, UoO, Norway (Supervisor: Prof. Kjetill S Jakobsen)
- 2007 MSc: Evolution and Biodiversity. Department of Biology, UoO, Norway
Current and previous positions
- 2014-2017 Postdoc (12 publications), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2016 (6months) Senior lecturer, Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2013-2014 Researcher, Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2008-2013 PhD (11 publications), Department of Biology, UoO, Norway
Fellowships and awards
- 2016 Mobility grant: 6 months at Van de Peer lab, VIB, University of Ghent, Belgium. (RCN)
- 2014 Mobility grant: 3 months at the Yabuki lab, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka, Japan. (RCN)
- 2014 Post-doctoral research fellowship: “Genome dynamics in early eukaryotic evolution: importance of enigmatic lineages”. (RCN): 4.3mill nok
- 2012 Best publication: “Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags from the Marine Microalga Pseudochattonella farcimen (Dictyochophyceae)”. Department of Biology, UoO, Norway
Mobility
- 2016-2017 (6 months) VIB life sciences research institute, University of Ghent, Belgium
- 2014 (3 months) Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan
Supervision of graduate students and research fellows
- 2014- Presently supervising: one PhD and one MSc students. Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- Previously supervised: one PhD (now Postdoc at Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway) and three MSc students
Teaching activities
- 2016 Course responsible – Biological methods (BIO2020), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2015 Joint course responsible – Elementary Biology (BIO1000), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2010- 2015 Workshop organiser – Classification and phylogeny (BIO4210), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2014 Guest lecturer – Molecular biology of microbes and host interactions (MBV4150), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2011- 2012 Workshop organiser – Bioinformatics (MBV3070), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2011- 2012 Laboratory supervisor – Molecular biology and biological methods (BIO2140), Department of Biology, UoO, Norway
- 2010- 2011 Laboratory supervisor – Elementary biology (BIO1000), Department of Biology, UoO, Norway
- 2010- 2011 Guest lecturer and workshop holder – Population Genetics & Molecular Evolution (BIO321), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway
Career breaks
Six-month parental leave in 2010. Prior to starting an MSc in Biology at UoO I was employed in numerous non-academic positions during a four-year period.
Institutional responsibilities
- 2017 Evaluation committee (Postdoc), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2016 Interview committee (Institute leader), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2015-2017 Board member, Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2015-2016 Exam marker, Elementary Biology, Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
- 2014 Evaluation committee (Postdoc), Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway
Commissions of trust
- 2015-2017 Board member, Norsk Algeforening (Norwegian Algae Association)
- 2012- Reviewer for: BMC Biochemistry, Environmental Microbiology, Genome Biology and Evolution, Hydrobiologia, Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, Phycologia, PLoS ONE, Protist, Schweizerbart Science Publishers, Standards in Genomic Sciences, Genoscope (France Génomique Scientific Committee).
Membership of scientific societies
- 2017- Member of the Young Phycological Society International (YPSI)
- 2017- Member of the American Society of Microbiology (ASM)
- 2015-2016 Member of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO)
Major collaborations
- Prof. Shalchian-Tabrizi, Dr. Alexander Nedebragt, Dr. Akinori Yabuki, Prof. Yves Van de Peer, Prof. Ken Ishida, Prof. Yuji Inagki, & Dr. Takashi Shiratori, Genome dynamics in early eukaryotic evolution, Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan. University of Ghent, Belgium. University of Tsukuba, Japan (RCN funded)
- Prof. Kjetill S Jakobsen, Ass Prof. Shauna Murray, Dr Uwe John, Evolution of saxitoxin in dinoflagellates, Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway. University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany.
- Dr. Lee Hsiang Liow, Dr. Kjetil Voje, Dr. Andrea Waeschenbach & Prof. Paul Taylor, Evolution of Bryozoa, Department of Biosciences, UoO, Norway. Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom (ERC CoG funded)
Summary
Russell J S Orr has in total 21 journal publications, one edited proceedings, and one book chapter: four as corresponding author, nine are as first author, a further two publications as joint first-author, the final 12 publications as co-author. Additionally, I have one papers in-press, and multiple in-prep. My publications are cited over 1000 times (as of 11.17) giving a h-index and i10-index of 12: http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=IfoqjYEAAAAJ&hl=en
Patents applications / other registered IPRs
- Molecular detection of saxitoxin-producing dinoflagellates using the gene sxtG. Norway 61/647573 2012.
- Detection of saxitoxin-producing dinoflagellates. Australia AU2012/000541 2012. USA 20170081733