Uudised

UT scientists are developing medicines suitable for newborns and young children and studying the suitability of existing drugs because there is a great need for pharmaceutical preparations meant for young patients. Currently, children often need to use adult medicines that have been adapted for them but which may also contain excipients unsuitable for children.

At the Demo Day, the University of Tartu recognised researchers who have made a great contribution to the development of enterprising university. The title of entrepreneurial researcher was awarded to Visiting Professor of the Cancer Biology Research Group Tambet Teesalu and Professor of Ichtyology and Fisheries of the Estonian Marine Institute Toomas Saat.

We kindly invite doctorate students of the Faculty of Medicine to participate in Science Day held by Faculty of Medicine at 25.–26.05.2018 in Vehendi motell. This year our key presenter is prof Mart Saarma from University of Helsinki Institute of Biotechnology. Science Day is excellent way for PhD students to practise presenting your scientific work and network with other PhD students.

You are invited to join the lecture by Professor Anne Agur (PhD, University of Toronto, Canada) on Friday, 27 April at 13:00 at A. Linkbergi auditorium (Puusepa Street 8) titled „Peripheral sensory nerve blocks and radiofrequency ablation: An alternative pain management strategy".

An international hackathon devoted to finding innovative solutions in the fields of bioeconomy, biotechnology and biomedicine will take place on 27th-28th of April 2018 in SPARK (Narva mnt. 3, Tartu, Estonia) a HUB of the start-up community in Southern Estonia.

As a result of more than 20 years of research by the scientists at the University of Tartu, the lactic acid bacteria strain ME-3, known for the last 15 years as the bacteria Hellus added to the dairy products of Tere, has now reached Estonia’s pharmacies.

Estonian Academy of Sciences organised a national competition in Estonia in autumn 2017 and based on the results, submitted three candidates to the international final round. 1. Uku Haljasorg, PhD, Research Fellow of Molecular Immunology; 2. Kristi Huik, PhD, Research Fellow of Medical Virology and Microbiology; 3. Liis Lemsalu, doctoral student, Junior Researcher at the National Institute for Health Development.

At an extraordinary meeting on 1 March, the council of the Faculty of Medicine decided to submit professor Toomas Asser as a candidate to the post of the rector of the University of Tartu. All members the council of the Faculty of Medicine who attended the meeting voted for nomination of professor Toomas Asser as the rector’s candidate.

The Danish LEO Foundation supports researchers of the University of Tartu with 220,000 euros to conduct laboratory studies to discover the causes of atopic dermatitis, a frequent skin disorder. Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease, which in many cases is of allergic character, but the causes of which are not exactly known. Researchers participating in the project want to study how the early molecular events in atopic dermatitis are influenced by the specific small RNA molecules, known as microRNAs.

Cooperation between researchers in the United States and Estonia helps to discover changes in brain tissue, which are associated with the very early stages of dementia. The cause of nearly half of all cases of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. It is estimated that 47 million people are suffering globally from Alzheimer’s – nearly the population of Spain. Due to the ageing of the population, it is predicted that 131.5 million people will be suffering from Alzheimer’s by 2050 – this is slightly less than the entire population of Russia.

With great sorrow, the University of Tartu announces the unexpected death of Rector Volli Kalm on Saturday, December 23. Volli Kalm was born on February 10, 1953 in Vändra. He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1976 with a degree in geology. In 1984, Kalm earned his PhD in geology from the Estonian Academy of Sciences after successfully defending his doctoral thesis "Formation, composition and usage of glaciofluvial deposits in Estonia." From 1988-1989, he attended postdoctoral studies in the geology department of the University of Alberta.

At the extraordinary senate session on 27 December, the senate of the University of Tartu unanimously appointed professor Tõnu Lehtsaar as the acting rector. In his speech to the senate, Lehtsaar said that his primary goal as the university’s acting rector is to maintain stability and find a new rector. “We will keep the university going. I asked members of the Rector’s Office at the meeting this morning if they were willing to continue in their office. I didn’t expect them to answer right away, but they confirmed that we will go forward together,” he said.

Professor Volli Kalm, Rector of the University of Tartu (10 February 1953 – 23 December 2017)

Friday, December 1 2017 marks the 98th birthday of the Estonia’s national university in Tartu. To celebrate the event, several events take place during the week-long celebrations – honorary doctorates and doctorates are conferred, the University’s honorary member named and the laurate of The University of Tartu Award for Contribution to Estonian National Identity named.

Based on student feedback, the recipient of the 2017 Best Teaching Staff Award of the University of Tartu from the Faculty of Medicine is Margot Peetsalu. In addition, ten best teaching staff members of the faculty were recognised (see the complete list below).

The University of Tartu doctoral student of medicine, junior research fellow Helen Hermann was granted the 2017 Eastern Europe Dermatology Research Fellow Award by the European Society for Dermatology Research (ESDR). At one of the world’s most important dermatology research conference, the 47th Annual ESDR Meeting in Austria, the Eastern Europe Dermatology Research Fellow Award was presented to doctoral student of medicine, junior research fellow Helen Hermann of the University of Tartu Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine.

Meelis Luht, former management board member of Eesti Meedia Group, will start work as the Director of Administration of the University of Tartu on 21 August. Rector Volli Kalm said the new director of administration has been in charge of several different areas of activity in his career and is a top leader with international work experience. We can see his capability as well as his desire and ambition to actively contribute to the implementation of the university’s development goals.

At the end of October, multi-purpose academic centre named after the 19th-century rector of the university, professor of physiology Alexander Schmidt were opened in the Biomeedikum building of the University of Tartu Faculty of Medicine.

This week the Faculty of Medicine is marking its 385th anniversary with two conferences, the awarding of its faculty medals and recognising its best students. The focal topic of the traditional anniversary conference is drawing attention to the importance of scientific research in benefiting the health of the people of Estonia.

On the 13th of October, along with the celebrations of the 385th birthday of the medical faculty, the Valda and Bernard Õun Scholarship will be awarded to Silva Kasela, a specialist at the Estonian Genome Center and a doctoral graduate of University of Tartu.